| At sea. Volvo Ocean Race: ABN AMRO ONE 70 miles from the Pentand Firth |
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| Thursday, 08 June 2006 | |
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Mark Christensen: In 70 miles we pass through the Pentland Firth and around Duncansby Head and finally will be sailing towards Rotterdam rather than away. As I type this we are still in first place, which has caused some surprise on this boat, but are about to be rolled by Brasil 1 for the third time in the race with the same sail up. The wind has now built to nearly six knots and we are touching 9kts of boat speed, enough that our fat arse has stopped dragging for the first time in 18 hours. Should not complain as we had 10 hours of reaching yesterday, the first time in the race, and we snuck into the lead. It's been a lot of fun this morning, as both Ericsson and Brasil 1 came up through the fog behind us and slowly mowed us down. The breeze was slowly turning right and with a shoreline on that side, we tacked ten times up the beach before passing the Butt of Lewis (I kid you not, go look it up). You can imagine the comments from ten bored sailors sailing upwind in 5kts to the legendary Butt. If you haven't already worked it out, ABN AMRO One likes to go fast. It also likes to go slow, much slower than the Farr boats. Our problems start at around 10 kts of boat speed and progressively get worse as the speed drops, so that by the time we are down to 4 kts upwind the Farr boats are closer to 5kts. Their problems start at 11kts and by 13kts of boat speed they are pretty serious. So what has been keeping us in this race? Some luck with the early park ups, being smart most of the time and a better light air sail inventory. Unfortunately not good enough as Brasil has just rolled us. Wind speed down to 4.5 kts and our problems start again. Food is running out and Bob (Robert Greenhalgh) has been taking snacks out each day and has put a ban on eating the 2 minute noodles. Looks like we are on power bars and the noodles to the finish from tomorrow night. The race committee, in an effort to counter the light air and slow progress, has removed a mark of the course and taken 70 miles off the route. Unfortunately due to the light wind and other factors, like a very strong tide gate at the Pentland Firth, Stan (Honey) believes it will at best save 3 hours, so still have an eta into Holland of sometime Saturday. Basically even though we now have under 600 miles to go, less than the current 24 hour record, there is still no wind between us and the finish and the little there is basically vmg upwind and downwind. If only for a little reaching.... and a little more breeze, say maybe 12 knots at 100 twa. Still haven't had any water over the deck, but it has got quite cold up here. Last night the gloves came out, would hate to think how cold it might have been had there been any wind. It is actually quite pleasant though, not to have to wear a dry top with neck seals all the time, no salt water in the eyes etc. There is definitely a bit more conversation as well and the humour has been great. It helps that we have no pressure to perform and aren't relying on a good result in this leg. Still we are all so competitive and each tack, each sail change, all the sched results are a chance to work out how we are going and show what we can do. I have ten minutes until I am on deck, so all for now. Regards Crusty Love to wife ,Janelle, and two daughters Maddy and Bronte. Watch Captain ABN AMRO ONE |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 June 2006 ) |
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