Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 - Day 29
by Volvo Ocean Race media 15 Apr 2012 18:19 BST
15 April 2012
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand were enjoying fast sailing and rising temperatures today as they prepared to take on the final 500 nautical miles (nm) of Leg 5.
The Kiwi/Spanish team are within around 48 hours of finishing the 6,700-mile leg from Auckland in New Zealand, one of their home ports, to Itajaí in Brazil.
CAMPER were forced to suspend racing on April 3 and divert to Puerto Montt in Chile to repair structural damage, resuming the leg on April 8. The crew have maintained an impressive pace since and spirits are high on board as the end of this challenging leg draws near.
“The breeze has been shifting left all day and the gybe we’re now on is the favoured one to Itajaí,” navigator Will Oxley said. “I know there’s a bit of interest in when we’re going to get to Itajaí, and the good news is that at the moment we’re improving our ETA. With a bit of luck we could be having brunch in Itajaí.”
As temperatures rise with every mile the team make north, co-skipper Stu Bannatyne was relishing taking his foul-weather jacket off for the first time since the leg start on March 18.
“You can’t imagine how nice it is to not have a tight rubber seal around my neck,” he said. “To top it off, we had a flying fish incident, so we must be getting into warmer water.”
By the time they complete the leg it will have been an entire month since they set sail from Auckland.
At 1300 UTC on Sunday CAMPER had 509 miles left to sail, and were averaging over 16 knots of boat speed.
CAMPER are expected to finish around 1200 UTC on April 17 after which they face a four-day turnaround to prepare for the DHL In-Port Race Itajaí on April 21, and the start of Leg 6 to Miami the following day.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Volvo Open 70 Azzam was on its way to Brazil by cargo ship after retiring from Leg 5 with structural damage. Two of the team’s shore crew, Sam Bourne and Tim Collen, have accompanied the boat to get a head start on the repair job to be carried out in Itajaí.
In a report today Bourne said working conditions on board had earlier been difficult as the ship rolled through 40 degrees in big waves. Now in flatter water, Bourne said the pair were were making good progress on their long list of tasks.
“Tim and I set to work on the yacht; we have a big job list and need to make good progress before arrival in Itajaí so we can focus on the major repair,” he said.
“Today was the day to rebuild the forward stacking bay that was sacrificed to shore-up the damaged hull. Tubes were cut, splinted, fitted and glued together to form the frame, ready to laminate tomorrow.
“It was pretty cold in the boat, around 10 degrees, so slow cure time meant that was the end of play for the day on that project. Next up was repairing the bracket for the keel hydraulic pump, a victim of the violent motion of a Volvo 70 at high speed.”
Abu Dhabi are expected to arrive in Itajaí around April 18 when the team will have to race the clock to effect repairs to the hull in time for the next points scoring opportunity -- the DHL In-Port Race Itajaí on April 21, on the eve of the start of Leg 6 to Miami.
Position report at 15/04/2012 13:02:22 UTC:
| Pos | Team | BS | DTF | Leg Time |
|---|
| 1 | PUMA | 0 | 0 | 019d 18h 09m 50s |
| 2 | TELE | 0 | 0 | 019d 18h 22m 28s |
| 3 | GPMA | 0 | 0 | 023d 12h 58m 44s |
| 4 | CMPR | 16.3 | 509.1 | ‑ |
| ‑ | ADOR | 0 | 0 | ‑ |
| ‑ | SNYA | 0 | 0 | ‑ |
Blog by Sam Bourne, Shore Team, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Azzam was safely loaded onto the deck of the MV Thorco Empire last week and secured for the 2800nm passage to Itajai. Some unforeseen local regulations caused a bit of a delay to our sailing time and we spent the first night at anchor off Puerto Montt. Tim, myself and some of the ship’s crew continued to secure the yacht and by morning our clearance to sail was confirmed. Early fog had cleared to leave a warm and calm day as we weighed anchor at 1100 and made our way down the Golfo de Ancud, sunshine reflecting off the snow-capped volcanoes.
Our guides for the passage down to the Atlantic entrance of the Magellan Strait had planned a route that would take us through a number of the more sheltered coastal passages and shield us from the worst of the southern pacific weather. After a spectacular sunset, we entered the first of these channels from the Golfo de Corcovado and were rewarded with calm seas and good speed of 15 knots.
We emerged into the Pacific at 0400 the next morning for a 12 hour section in the open ocean -- now we could feel the full effect of a 25-30knot Nor'easter and a large ocean swell. Not a day for being on deck, we did not even attempt the ladder the get to the yacht...
Rolling through 40 degrees made life 'interesting' onboard. Simple tasks like walking along a corridor were turned into an exercise in agility, while chasing your food around the table while your seat slides around the floor brought comedy moments galore!
We passed from the Golfo Penas into the next channel through a lethal looking collection of rocks, the pilot calmly issuing new headings. Suddenly it was calm again! A pod of whales and some albatross were sighted in our last stretch of the open Pacific.
Some amazingly narrow passages greeted us in the morning (one as narrow as 200 metres!) along with views of mountains and icy-blue glaciers.
Since it was so calm, Tim and I set to work on the yacht; we have a big joblist and need to make good progress before arrival in Itajai so we can focus on the major repair. Today was the day to rebuild the forward stacking bay that was sacrificed to shore-up the damaged hull. Tubes were cut, splinted, fitted and glued together to form the frame, ready to laminate tomorrow. It was pretty cold in the boat, around 10 degrees, so slow cure time meant that was the end of play for the day on that project. Next up was repairing the bracket for the keel hydraulic pump, a victim of the violent motion of a Volvo 70 at high speed. Some extreme deep-south laminating skills were called for and Tim Collen duly delivered!
A special sight today was an wrecked ship perched high on a reef after a serious pilotage error back in the 70s, a reminder how treacherous these waters can be. What is also remarkable is that since leaving Puerto Montt, we have only seen a handful of boats and almost no sign of human life other than the light beacons guiding the way through this utterly unforgiving landscape of ice carved barren rock.
The Strait of Magellan will take us down to 54 degrees south, around the southernmost point on the South American mainland, Cape Froward. Not quite Cape Horn, but a significant turning point none the less. Then we enter the Atlantic and start the long route north to Itajai. The ship is making all speed however we can't get there soon enough..... I am sure the rest of the shore team are just itching to get their hands on Azzam and get her ready for the next leg to Miami.