The Volvo Ocean 70 movistar passes safety test
by Ana Garcia 12 Jul 2005 12:54 BST
The Volvo Ocean 70 'movistar' passes its safety test © Maria Muina / movistar sailing
The VO 70 “movistar” returned last week to the water after a thorough overhaul and tuning at the team’s headquarters in Sanxenxo. The Spanish world race entrant was hoisted from its cradle and put to the sea after 18 hours, to be subject to the safety righting tests demanded by Volvo Ocean Race regulations.
The rule consists in capsizing the boat hull completely on the water to test its behaviour under extreme conditions. A large crane was used to turn the 21.5 meter-long VO 70 boat by hanging it from its keel bulb until it capsized completely. Four members of the crew – including Skipper Bouwe Bekking and Bowman Pepe Ribes – participated in the manoeuvre from inside the boat to check for possible flooding on the cabin and perform the self-righting of the hull.
The whole capsizing manoeuvre lasted 8 minutes and the boat was upside down for nearly 12 minutes. To complete the operation successfully, the members of the crew inside the boat activated the pivoting keel system to return the boat to its natural position fully autonomously. The keel movement righted the hull slowly and gradually in just 5 minutes.
“The operation has been a complete success – said Bouwe Bekking after leaving the boat’s interior. The system has worked beautifully, and the watertight integrity is fantastic: we have just boarded 100 litres of water, a minimum amount for a boat this size”.
“Besides meeting the regatta’s rules – adds Pedro Campos, team’s General Manager – this stability test has been useful to check the boat safety, always our number one priority”:
The whole team and their relatives followed the operation from land.
Rendez-vous with the Elcano at the Ría de Vigo
On Friday the “movistar” land crew proceeded to mount the 31-meter high mast on the VO 70’s hull to complete its preparation and resume its training schedule. The next stop for the Spanish Round the World race entrant was Vigo on Saturday, where it received the Spanish flag at 12:30 hours on board the Juan Sebastián de Elcano, the Spanish Army training ship.