In my last post on the Volvo Ocean Race I presented prose by a crew member in the third day of hell on the North Atlantic Ocean.
Now for something completely different.
Violent footage from Leg 8:
Huge Wave Knocks Down Nico - Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12
"Amazing footage from Volvo Ocean Race competitor CAMPER with ETNZ shows a big wave crashing against the crew on deck while skipper Chris Nicholson is at the helm sailing over 25 knots boat speed on the Bay of Biscay heading to Lorient, France." "Huge Wave Knocks Down Nico - Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12":http://youtu.be/ytLYOt2NHvU
From the video: Chris Nicholson, Skipper - Camper with ETNZ:
"... There were 1 or 2 ways in... one wave that I managed not to catch, and if we'd caught it there would have been tears at the bottom... and one wave that we did catch - and it had tears at the bottom."
On Friday the fleet is into a third day of 40+ knot winds and mountainous high seas - "CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand" Media Crew Member, Hamish Hooper filed this story at Volvo Ocean Racing:
15 Jun 2012 Hairy gybe Leg 8, Day 6
Within the blink of an eye things on CAMPER have gone from speed record sailing to survival sailing.
A couple of hours ago the guys did a sail change to a smaller jib to keep things under control.
I took a moment to pop up on deck. When I stopped to look around, didn’t want to be on deck anymore. It was just like being back in the Southern Ocean in all its fury again- well close to all its fury.
The seas are huge, the mountainous caps breaking in all directions. It is times like this that it is a comfort to have your competitors so close. We could see PUMA - at times- as it appears and disappears down massive troughs of the seething swell.
Nico was knocked from the wheel by a huge wave and by the narrowest of margins, but managed to grab the wheel back and retain control.
Not long ago we finally gybed, something normally so easy, was one of the most challenging manoeuvres of the race so far. Its times like this that the standard of seamanship of the guys really shines through.
We are now headed direct to Lorient, but still we have huge seas and 45 knots winds to contend with throughout the dark night. “That was one of the hairiest gybes I have ever done in all my life. It was a huge relief to get through it unscathed.” STU BANNATYNE
Stu Bannatyne is Co-skipper / Watch Captain on Team CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand.
In my last post I worried that lives could be in danger as an intense Low pressure system began to collide with the Azores High. The resultant storm font was creating 45 knot + wind speeds just as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet was sailing into it.
Over night the fleet has weathered the massive storm - so far - but are still in it's clutches; meanwhile the storm continues to intensify.
This morning (14 Jun 2012, 06:37 UTC - 01:37 EDT) Volvo Ocean Racing media reports,
"It is all about speed! The top quartet of Telefónica, PUMA, Groupama and CAMPER have notched more than 500 nautical miles in the past 24 hours, and there’s still plenty of racetrack left for the teams to break the IWC Schaffhausen 24-hour record.
"As the teams face the ferocious North-Atlantic storm, Team Telefónica continue to lead the race as they chase redemption for some off-form racing of late, but PUMA aren’t far behind in second place.
"Groupama sailing team are slowly clawing back miles they lost after their mainsail got stuck while they were trying to put a reef in as they approached the storm yesterday. The team today edged ahead of CAMPER to claim third place.
"Abu Dhabi remain fourth and Team Sanya are sixth. Sanya skipper Mike Sanderson said his team would play it safe in the hope that the storm may bring one of the other teams unstuck and present his crew with a deserved comeback opportunity.
For nearly two hours over night, Team Groupama crew struggled to control the boat while crew member Brad Marsh climbed the boat's 31-metre mast three times in more than 20 knots of breeze and rough seas trying to free the jammed mainsail - as gale force winds approached. Groupame finally freed the rigging and dropped the main sail to the deck, then re-hoisted - losing place to 3 boats as the four leaders of the leg battled at the front. By the latest dispatch Groupama is back up with the leaders and the race leg is still as yet undecided.
When the fleet is in absolutely, bloody, murderous seas, the media coming off the ocean's surface almost comes to a halt. It is completely understandable, video taping in these conditions must be near impossible - not only that - satellite phone up-links must be intermittent at best in the midst of these massive storms.
It's too bad though - the parts of the race we'd most like to see a minute by minute account of - are also the least recorded parts of the race.
I've drawn in the approximate route of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race fleet's Leg 8 coarse. The red "A" place-mark shows The Azores, Portugal. See a satellite image weather map of the region below.
The latest dispatch from Volvo Ocean Racing,
13/06/2012 7:01:39 UTC
(Tuesday, June 13, 2012 - 2:01:39 am edt) STORMS THREATEN AS TELEFÓNICA TURN FIRST FOR HOME
In an exciting duel this morning, at 0456 GMT Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) led Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) by three minutes as they rounded the turning point at the Azores island of São Miguel on Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race. Now the leaders are battening down the hatches to tough it out in winds of 40 knots and a huge sea state for the final 1,000-mile push to the finish in Lorient, France.
At the turning mark, less than an hour separated the first five teams who are now clear of São Miguel and pointing north east, while Sanya and Mike Sanderson were just off the northern tip of the island. Supporters from the islands turned out at dawn, hollering and cheering as the teams sailed through the archipelago.
According to Hamish Hooper, Media Crew Member with fourth-placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS), things will only become more interesting and more intense over the next 24 hours as the barometer drops and the wind builds to some very strong gales.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s navigator Jules Salter says that as much as 45 knots of wind is possible as the fleet nears the centre of the depression which is sweeping across their path. “Unfortunately, the way in which the storm is moving right now, it will be difficult to get to where we are trying to go without seeing some exceptionally heinous conditions,” he said.
It will be Thursday before the fleet is in the thick of the low, which could produce conditions not seen since the Southern Ocean on Leg 5, which saw five of the six-boat fleet suffer serious damage.
Holding it together will be key for the top four still in contention for overall honours, and while Telefónica, Groupama, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) and CAMPER will be less inclined to take risks, Abu Dhabi and Sanya, who are clearly out of the frame for an overall win, will, perhaps, be braver. “It’s about time we got some real smoking downwind conditions – this should be quite a finish into France,” remarked Abu Dhabi’s watch leader Craig Satterthwaite.
At 0700 GMT today, in a building breeze, Telefónica led Groupama by 0.8 nm, with PUMA just 1.8 nm behind the leader. Still well in touch, 6.7 nm behind the Spanish team were CAMPER, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were a further six miles astern. Speeds were already back up to 16.6 knots for the leaders, while Sanya, who were 22 nm behind and still trying to get clear of the island, were only managing 13 knots.
“Everyone is getting ready for one last push," said PUMA MCM Amory Ross. "We know it will be tough, tiring, wet and wild, but it’s only for a few days and they will be some of our last, so bring it on. What would a leg of this race be without some extremely uncomfortable sailing?"
An image from an Environment Canada Satellite Composite
Image weather map. I've drawn in the High and the Low.and
some lines: the thick sweeping line shows the path of a 45 knot
gale rounding the top of the Azores High pressure area.
The thinner line I've drawn is the Volvo Ocean Race fleet's
approximate coarse. (Full sized image open image's link.)
While the Fleet was in port at Lisbon Portugal over the weekend, Volvo Ocean Race officials decided to set an imaginary mark around which the fleet would be required to sail in Leg 8. They were considering placing the mark south west off the coast of Portugal near the tiny, almost mid-Atlantic Island chain called the Azores - in order to guarantee that the races wouldn't simply take the coastal route up from Lisbon to Lorient, France. The result of that would have been a slow crawl op the coast - boring - so race officials sent these couragous Ocean Racers where they were fairly confident there would be strong trade winds interacting with a stable mass of high pressure over the archipelago known as the Azores.
Well, they may have gotten more excitement then they bargained for.
When I heard over the weekend that race officials were thinking of changing the route of Leg 8 - and sending 60 racers (and a number of media people) into 'exciting' weather, I wondered about how it must feel for race officials at moments like this - changing the coarse of the race on a hunch, looking at weather maps in the safety of Port - calculating for a good race, and now, having sent these people into harms way hoping by all that is holy that you haven't sent these people to their deaths.
I'll update the progress through this upcoming storm over the next 24 hours, here.
This video comes just as the fleet is approaching the turn around the Azores, approximately 1am edt this morning.
Different Angles - Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12
At 3:20 on the video, Stuart Bannatyne Co-skipper / Watch Captain for Team Camper,
".. The forecast for the other side of the high pressure is stating to get quite interesting, [...] ..very scary stuff."
This morning the Volvo Ocean Race held an In-Port race at Lisbon, Portugal. A replay of the race is available via Youtube or Livestream. Both are embedded here.
This race leg had a bit of everything.
On the way out teams tacked out on the river against the in-coming tide with perfect wind conditions for sail racing (16 knots). Seconds after the start cannon signaled the end of the prelude section of the race (no racing), Team Telefónica was penalized by race officials for sailing a vector that cut off Team Puma's line. They had to preform a 360 degree turn before they could re-join the race.
(Open link in new tab for full size)
As such the race leg leaders off the block were Groupama and Puma.
As the race reaches the half way point Campa and Groupama lead. They each tack from one shore of the channel to the other cris-crossing in the cntre of the river - several times intersecting each other's paths so harrowingly close your sure they'e going to collide.
One tack from the outer harbour race turning gate markers, Team Abu Dhabi is 'attacked' by a flock of gauwking tourist boats, and have to temper their racing until clear. Perhaps the captain over-shot his line a little? The maneuver it turned out, lost them the race for first.
At the turning gate in the outer harbour, at the mouth of the Tagus River, teams threw up huge ballooning
jinnakers called 'A' sails -that arch way out in front of the boats.
While the director of the live media happened to be live on board Team Telefónica's boat, with their A-Sail tight as a drum, something snaps! I jumped out of my chair at the sound ... instantly the crew were all running about. Seconds later the camera man has a shot of the massive sail in the water. The rigging snapped.
Shortly thereafter, Team Sanya is trying to lower their 'A' sail, but the rigging is jammed. They have to send a man aloft to try and un-stick it - and he ends up having to cut the wire right at the main mast. The captain abandons the sail in their wake.
These are primal earth elements these sailors are taming - prevailing winds, slicing through a column of heavy, dense water, currents at the mouth of great river meeting those of the Atlantic Ocean - sailors twisting their vessels' whole to just this side of the breaking point, and then ... BANG! :)
When watching a live event, this kind of stuff is gold. I watched live via my desktop computer.
The production featured great photography and direction. 'On Air' personalities (who's names I can't find anywhere on the site) deliver an energy filled audio only narration of the race that feels like an auto racing event and a Tour de France production mixed together. I liked it. It's one of the leading edge ways in which Television is beginning to morph into what it will be in the world wide web media set of vectors.
The Volvo Ocean Race is a network television quality, multimedia, integrated multi-platform eith month long 24 hour a day, live broadcast event. The production uses high end, full spectrum, media event production techniques, and note-ably - a leading edge live event web presence: with around the clock live race updates, state-of-the-art mapping and leading edge graphical interface vectors - that work really well as web interfaces.
The mapping visual interfaces are extraordinary, they show an almost, photo quality representation of the Volvo Ocean Race Fleet. The any-point-in-space POV that can helicopter (more like, bumble-bee) over the fleet at any point on the earth - in real time.
Fantastic.
Here's the automatically rendered Youtube production of the Livestreamed event. After a long static shot of the harbou, at 23:40 a recap of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, and a set up for the Oeiras In-Port Race starts - live race reporting, out on the boats, starts at 30:20
