A Soldier's March

After a clean start from Singapore yesterday, the crews racing in leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race are settling into the rhythm of being at sea again, something that is hard to adjust to after spending almost a month ashore enjoying the delights of Singapore.

The past 30 or so hours have seen the fleet enjoy pleasant sailing, upwind in good breeze and sunshine.  The seven-boat fleet has fallen into line, sailing a soldier’s course, and following each other’s tracks, but everyone is enjoying the sailing, knowing there will be colder and harder times ahead.

The race committee has taken the decision to modify the course to Qingdao and include a waypoint at South Rock Light, positioned near to Manila in the Philippines (15 07 degrees N, 117 49 degrees E), to keep the fleet to the east of the South China Sea, away from some bad weather expected later this week.

Bouwe Bekking/NED (Telefónica Blue) said in his message to the race office this morning that the position of the waypoint is where there is the biggest wind shadow from the Philippines.  “It makes this leg less tactical, and most likely the winner will be the team who pushes the hardest through the heavy weather and keeps it in one piece,” he said. 

Green Dragon’s skipper Ian Walker/GBR echoed Bekking’s thoughts.  Referring to the placement of the additional waypoint, he said, “This may turn out to be an inspired decision, but, right now, it is an irritation.  Maybe we do need saving from ourselves in this way.” He says that up to now, his team has relied on strong downwind sailing and strategic and tactical decisions to keep them in the frame and agrees that many tactical decisions have been eliminated by the placement of the new waypoint. 

Leading the charge is PUMA (Ken Read/USA), who has overall race leader Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) attached to them by a bungee cord.  Telefónica Blue, according to Read, is just a stone’s throw away.  Just seven nautical miles separates the fleet from first to last and PUMA has achieved the highest 24-hour run of 302 nm.

Bekking says that his blue boat always seems to have extra speed when racing under the cover of darkness, although, overnight, they had to slow their boat to almost a standstill to free a piece of plastic which became lodged on the daggerboard. 

Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) overtook them during the manoeuvre to free the plastic, but Telefónica Blue was soon back up to full speed and quickly passed them and stretched away from their sistership, Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) who is sailing with new, longer, rudders. 

As the fleet pounds upwind in 16 – 18 knots of breeze, everything allowable is stacked on the windward side of the boats.  Cooking is nearly impossible and moving anywhere on the boat is best done on the leeward side.  All the crew bags are stuffed with warm clothing in preparation for the sub zero temperatures expected in the second half of the leg, but right now the crews are still working in tropical temperatures. 

Leg Four Day Two: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions