The excesses of the Rio stopover are forgotten as the crews slip back into the old routine of watch systems and freeze-dried food. And the 2-4 knots and lumpy swell which blighted their departure have given way to the south-east trades.
Next target is the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha 1,000 nautical miles away. The tempo is rising.
Ericsson 4’s Media Crew Member, Guy Salter, is relishing the lift in the pace of life on board. “Its nice to have the wind again as the inside of the boat is stacked nicely as is the windward rail,” he wrote.
“We are ploughing along now at what seems to be break neck speeds (or at least after the first 28 hours). Fourteen knots seems like potential passing out/nose bleed speed compared to the first few days.
“Torben (Grael) commented yesterday evening that he had once sailed the 72 miles from Cabo Frio to Rio in a Star in a lot less time than it had taken us – his day-boat madness had only taken 12 hours and all that the rest of us could think of is why didn’t he just put the boat on its trailer and drive it back.
“Meanwhile, we are starting to settle back into the routines onboard. To be honest, the boat routine is normal, on land is the oddity as our time ashore in the last few months has been comfortably in the minority.”
By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, the fleet was hunting in packs as shown on the Race Viewer. Offshore, the hares are Telefonica Blue and a rejuvenated Delta Lloyd (+19 Distance To Leader).
Running with the hounds inshore are third-placed Ericsson 4 (+24), sister ship Ericsson 3 (+26) fourth, PUMA (+27), Telefonica Black (+29) fifth and sixth respectively. Furthest east is Green Dragon (+38) bringing up the rear.
On Telefonica Blue, they are feeling groovy, or at least trying to, says Simon Fisher. “Although the wind has filled in somewhat and we are no longer drifting around it is shifty and gusty meaning that we have to work hard to keep the boat in the groove,” he said.
“Tactically things are working out OK. The pack behind have been playing a little cat and mouse with each other forcing them to go lower and faster, which for now has played into our hands as we remain happy with our windward position on the fleet.
“It is now a case of making subtle changes to our course to defend our position and hopefully maximize the opportunities to extend when they present themselves.”
Navigator-for-hire Wouter Verbraak, who started out on Team Russia, had a loan spell on Green Dragon as is now back aboard Delta Lloyd’s first generation Volvo Open 70, explained the team’s strategy thus … “Before the leg start we have divided the leg up into different races. Each race has it’s own goal and strategy, and gives us something to focus on,” he said.
“The first race from Rio to Cabo Frio on the SE tip of Brazil is now firmly behind us, and it is with a sigh of relieve that we are starting race two. Speed, speed, speed is our goal to the race two finish line at the first waypoint (Fernando).
“No big moves to be made, just focus on the boat speed. With the breeze varying between 12 and 16 knots and oscillating in direction as well, the grinding of the mainsheet is a constant. Even though we are not making top speeds, the progress towards the mark is good as we only need to get a bit more offshore.
“At the same time we all realize that there is no rest for the wicked as the more powerful new generation boats will soon be breathing down our neck.”
Ken Read – skipper on PUMA Ocean Racing had this to say today of life onboard Il Mostro “The challenges of ocean sailing change every day. Nearly always an interesting new twist comes to play. The first couple of days of this journey have been no different.
First of all, we are going home. Back to Boston where Salma Hayek christened il mostro on a cold and blustery May night. Back to where the North American Headquarters for PUMA lies, right on the harbour front. Back to where I went to University – Boston University (who just won the National Championship in ice hockey I might add). A city which has helped mould my life, and I especially can’t wait to get back there.
But the journey doesn’t happen without its potholes, and I thought we were going to lose Sid for a while yesterday morning. Sidney Gavignet is a very passionate Frenchman who has a love for the sea and a love for competition. But like most of us he has a few superstitions and there is one in particular that is shared by nearly all of his French sailing counterparts.
They have a huge fear of little fuzzy hopping animals with long ears (I am not even allowed to say the name of this animal – that is how deep rooted the superstition is.)
As legend has it, the furry animals with long ears used to be taken aboard the old sailing ships alive and eaten in the old days, long before refrigeration or freeze-dried food. Live animals were carried then to eaten by the crew. The furry little animals with long ears supposedly had a different plan though. They would eat through the wooden hulls and sink the ships before they made it to the cooker, or made the boat made it to port. Since then the French have forbidden any sort of mention or likeness of the big-eared ship sinkers to be on any boat.
So, with the best of intentions, an unnamed fan made it onboard and put a chocolate Easter fuzzy animal with long ears in each of our storage pouches as a surprise – again with the best of intentions, of course. Sid didn’t see the humour. We believe he threw his overboard and asked if I would make sure that all were either eaten or immediately gotten rid of as soon as possible.
And sure enough we had a really bad day yesterday on the water. From the leg start out of Rio, we saw the three boats that were the farthest behind sail around us all, Telefónica Blue and Green Dragon along the shore and Delta Lloyd offshore. The pack of Telefónica Black, the two Ericsson’s and us stuck in the windless middle trying desperately to get to an edge.
Now we are in a drag race to Fernando and the all-important scoring gate. We are minus all fuzzy and long eared chocolate Easter treats and we appear to be doing better because of it. We aren’t talking about that superstition any more – after this note of course, because yesterday it was pretty valid in my books. We checked for holes and are good on that front. Now to make up for lost time and distance. “