Volvo Ocean Race leg 3 day 6

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew right in by the Pulau Weh shoreline in Indonesia during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race leg 3 day 6

By Volvo Ocean Race media on 27 Jan27 January 2012CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew right in by the Pulau Weh shoreline in Indonesia during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race © Hamish Hooper/CAMPER ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race

Race on a knife edge as leaders enter Malacca Strait

After more than 1,000 nautical miles of ocean racing on the second stage of Leg 3 to Sanya, just five miles separated the top four boats as they entered the feared Malacca Strait on Friday.

After taking the lead late on Thursday, Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica rounded Pulau We island narrowly ahead to lead the fleet into one of the world's busiest and most hazardous shipping routes.

On the approach to the island, Telefónica held off sustained attacks from Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG after the leaders had picked their way precariously around the rocky northern Sumatran coast.

Telefónica and CAMPER traded tacks constantly on the 25 nautical mile section against the wind to Pulau We, all the time stalked by PUMA just behind.

As the leading pack began to round Pulau We, PUMA snatched second place from CAMPER when Read cut the corner and emerged ahead of Nicholson who had taken a more offshore route in search of better winds. When the boats crossed again just minutes later, however, CAMPER had struck back to reclaim second place.

Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team rounded Pulau We in fourth place, still within sight of the leaders and very much in a position to pounce during the 500 nm passage through the strait.

"The strait promises to be a real minefield of opportunities and losses," said Groupama bowman Brad Marsh. "Like the game of snakes and ladders, one wrong move will drop you a long way back and one lucky move will make you look famous."

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya were set to enter the Malacca Strait later on Friday. Both have hopes of the fleet compressing in the strait and getting them back in the mix.

PUMA began to make gains when the leaders passed close to the northern tip of Sumatra. According to navigator Tom Addis, PUMA were so close to land that he moved from his nav station to get a better viewpoint.

“I was on deck looking at the chart and it actually had us going over land for a couple of minutes," he said. "So yeah, I would say we were in pretty close there.”

Addis said there would be plenty of other challenges for the fleet before they exit the strait, including the possibility of having to anchor to avoid being swept backwards by strong currents.

“There are so many factors it is hard to prioritise them,” he commented. “There’s plenty to hit, sandbanks and wrecks, the weather is really unstable and through all of that you still have to rest so you can remain sane and make good decisions. It’s the full package really.

“In the middle section the currents are a bit weaker but there is a chance we will have to anchor -- anything to stop you going backwards. We have our anchor and a plan for quickly putting it in place.”

CAMPER navigator Will Oxley predicted a similarly fraught few days.

“We’re going to be guided tonight by what the other boats do,” he said. “It’s not going to be a very peaceful few days. First, because of the shipping and the narrow channels, and secondly because we have three boats in very close company.

“The boat that pops their nose out in front at the other end of the strait will probably be in the best position from there to the finish. It’s about 500-odd miles to Singapore so I’m getting prepared for not much sleep.”

For five of the teams, 80 percent of the points for Leg 3 are at stake on this second stage, which began in the Maldives on Sunday and will take the fleet over 3,050 nm to Sanya, with an estimated finish of around February 5-6.

Team Sanya, sailing towards their home port, will score full Leg 3 points for the stage after being unable to take part in Stage 1 because of a rigging problem.

Position Report at 13:00:59 UTC:

Pos	Team	DTL	Boat Speed	DTF
1	TELE	0	11.9	1687.3
2	CMPR	0.1	10.8	1687.4
3	PUMA	4.8	11.6	1692.1
4	GPMA	5.1	11.4	1692.4
5	ADOR	21.5	12.6	1708.9
6	SNYA	50.6	11.9	1738

www.VolvoOceanRace.com

A battle into the Straits (from CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand)

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is now heading into the next stage of this leg, the Straits of Malacca. After 1300 miles of close quarter sailing at the 1500 UTC report CAMPER, Telefonica and Puma were within four miles of each other, as the crews look to take on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. With a very narrow channel for the ships and the Volvo 70 fleet to sail through, it is going to be a very stressful time in front of the radar for the navigators over the next few days.

MCM Hamish Hooper sent his update this morning; "Today is day five, which each leg ends up being quite a significant day because its around the five day mark you start to get a bit uncomfortable in the same underpants and clothes you have been wearing from the start. It's about this time that everyone starts thinking about a change. Chuny was first to go for the full wet wipe clean, moisturize and wardrobe change. He smelt delightful. I'm still holding on, I told myself at the start of the leg that I would change out as soon as I see Indonesia... It's a tantalizing prospect. I just hope we see it.

Over night was a busy one for the guys, trying to keep the boat beating along nicely to remain at the sharp end of the fleet. Made all the more difficult with continued pesky clouds, which put the brakes on seemingly every time it was commented how well the boat was going along. The guys on watch all do a brilliant job working together identifying clouds in the night sky by sight on deck and radar below deck to decide which are the good clouds, which are the bad ones and which way to approach them. It reminds me a bit of the security team at airport scanners looking over the people and bags as they come along then sending them through the scanner to see what they are hiding. This might be comforting for the guys to know they would be well qualified to work at an airport once their sailing careers are finished."

Shortly after 1000 UTC CAMPER turned the corner around the northern tip of Sumatra; "Suddenly after five days of monotonous port tack sailing this leg has come alive. Seemingly out of nowhere we are a hundred metres of Pulau Weh in a tacking duel with Telefonica just ahead and Puma a couple of miles behind. Incredible that since leaving the Maldives some 1380 nautical miles away all three boats end up in the same small stretch of water at the same time. It’s quite a sensation having seen only water sky and horizon to now seeing steep green mountains rising up from the sea and beautiful tropical beaches scattered around. Unfortunately this isn’t a sight seeing trip and its all hands on deck, with the same intensity to an inshore race. It’s all go, I think the next stage of this leg has just started."

Blog from the Seas (by Amory Ross, MCM, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG)

The Malacca Strait adventures began last night and we’re still a day out. Notoriously touted as one of the busiest and most congested shipping lanes in the world, we found our fare share of exiting and entering ships to contend (and communicate) with in the dark. There was also distant lightning, several 20-plus knot squalls – the first of this leg – and a solid thud-of-a-something off our leeward daggerboard; I’d say we’re getting close!

The approach to the Straits, a right-hand turn around the northwest corner of Indonesia, looks fetch-able right now were it not for a wicked adverse current and an expected header coming off the land (we think it’s hot now?). So we have two more tacks to take before we can lay the inlet, and then it’s a complex navigational challenge in picking a side to play for the run down.

But before we even get there we have to fend off Groupama and CAMPER to the south, and not lose touch of Telefónica to the north. The guys from Spain seemingly cannot put a foot wrong and they’ve been consistently extending all day long. Hopefully they park up somewhere so we can exact some revenge for their Leg 1 and 2 Doldrums switcheroos…

None of this detracts from the more important matter at hand: the Giants v. Patriots Super Bowl buildup (or, as every non-American on the boat calls it, the “Global World Championships of a sport nobody else plays”). There has been a steady stream of pre-game emails coming to the boat and the Giants, my boys in blue, are again the underdogs in Vegas; just the way they like it. It only means my winnings from Kenny and Rome are going to be that much greater… It’s just up to Tom to make sure we get to China in time to watch it. No pressure Tom.

-- Amory

An Indonesia weave (from Groupama)

The trickiest and most uncertain passage of this leg began at noon this Friday, as the leaders entered the Straits of Malacca. Still bunched together within a six-mile zone, the top four boats are battling into an easterly breeze amidst a series of tack changes. Seemingly Groupama 4 is keen to shake off her markers by positioning herself to windward of the fleet...

Knit one, purl one: the entrance to the Straits of Malacca kicked off at around 0900 UTC with a spot of `weaving' to round the island of Pulau We. Among the course marks to be left to starboard, this small island signals the North-West tip of Sumatra and, as the wind tends to funnel by this landmass, the fleet were faced with around fifteen knots of ENE'ly. The six VO-70s didn't think twice about closely skirting past the islet of Pulau Beras, before launching onto a beat of around twenty miles to make their way into the long channel which stretches over 500 miles to Singapore. A zone seldom frequented by race boats, it has nonetheless been a crossroads for commercial shipping for centuries, with massive congestion extending as far as the South of Malaysia. Each day over five hundred ships sail through this passage, which narrows, as it does in the Channel, from 200 miles (a little more than the distance between Ushant and Land's End) to less than fifteen miles (less than half the distance from Dover-Calais).

"We haven't planned to change the watch system: the minute something alerts us on deck, the standby watch is operational if we're required to manoeuvre. There is already quite a lot of stuff trailing around in the water, such as pretty big tree trunks, so there's always a member of the crew at the guardwires looking ahead. There are certainly a lot of people in the Straits of Malacca with a huge amount going on. We don't mind it but we're going to have quite a lot to do too. We're going to have our work cut out refining the trim so we can make the most of the little wind there will be and we'll have to be on top of things in every domain. Groupama 4 isn't necessarily the most at ease in these conditions, but for the time being, we're on the pace and the atmosphere onboard is very good: we're happy to see some of our rivals on the horizon" indicated the skipper of Groupama 4 at noon yesterday.

On constant look-out on deck

Initially the scenario of around twelve knots of ENE'ly is set to remain, before it clocks round to the North-East beyond the Pantonlabu headland (130 miles to the East of the entrance). The difficulty will relate to interpreting the series of cloud masses in this equatorial zone, where the intense heat causes considerable evaporation. With this come squalls, which can halt progress all of a sudden, as it did on two occasions last night for Franck Cammas and his men! During the beat this lunchtime, Groupama 4 was able to make up the ten miles she lost during the double whammy of misfortune, but it's likely that this phenomenon will be repeated. In fact, there's every chance that each team will be affected in turn, but it's the point where it happens which could have some very serious consequences.

Early this afternoon the French boat opted to reposition herself to windward of her three direct rivals, Abu Dhabi being relegated to over twenty miles astern and Sanya to fifty miles, and not yet inside the Straits of Malacca. Given that the island of Sumatra culminates at nearly 3,000 metres, the fleet appears to be gunning for the middle of the channel, so as to distance itself from these landforms, which often cause a buffering effect as the wind gains height, leaving virtually no air near the coast. It will take until midday on Saturday for the breeze to begin to shift round to the North, easing to less than ten knots along the way. This is bound to lead to a degree of tension aboard as, within a matter of miles, the breeze may be very different, both in terms of strength and direction. In this zone coloured by meteorological uncertainty, where there is a great abundance of fisherman near the shores, the navigators will be favouring both a trajectory down the centre of the race zone and a low risk strategy, by remaining bunched together. However, will this be enough to prevent the fleet from unravelling? That is the question. For now, nothing could be less certain in this tunnel of variable weather...