Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1
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BLUE WATER DISPATCHES Racing in Review: Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1 By Phoebe Clark Patterson n their first of 10 legs, Torben Grael aboard Ericsson doldrums, the thunderstorms can leave just as easily as 4 tasted victory with USA boat Puma skippered by they came. IAmerican Ken Read a mere 135 miles behind. From As the rested sailors leave Cape Town and head toward Alicante, Spain, to Cape Town, South Africa, Ericsson Kochin, India, on Leg Two, they must face extremely 4 traveled 6,500 nautical miles in 21 days and in the tumultuous waters. Sailors must also go against the grain process set a new world record after sailing 602 nautical as they try to head north while the Agulhas current runs miles in 24 hours. south down the east coast of South Africa. The cold Ericsson 4 battled to keep PUMA in second. After water and westerly winds from the Southern Ocean also 3,000 nautical miles the contribute to the two boats were often notoriously bad in sight of each other. weather in this Even with a detour to region. Those relieve injured trimmer/ that pull ahead of helmsman Tony Mutter the fleet depend of New Zealand, Erics- heavily on being son 4 finished strong able to get through and passed PUMA three the current first days before the comple- and keeping it tion of Leg One. all together in As predicted, the the rough winds light and fluky winds accompanying the of the doldrums proved storms that wait difficult to penetrate for just around the many of the navigators. corner. Those that went west had the most success Photo by Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race sidestepping the still air that rises near the equator. Strategy through the dol- drums was crucial as Team Russia learned after relin- Leg One Finishing Order intO Cape tOwn quishing their third-place position for seventh. 1 Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) Those that went west included Ericsson 4, PUMA, and 2 PUMA USA (Ken Read/USA) Green Dragon. The miles lost by sailing right angles to 3 Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) the west were well worth it as these three teams fared 4 Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) well against their other five competitors. Despite com- 5 Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) mon perception that the doldrums are always dry with 6 Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) still air, there are often patches of thunderstorms and 7 Team Delta Lloyd (Ger O’Rourke/IRE) rain breaking up the air. Just like the fluky winds of the 8 Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echavarri/ESP) Calling all S&S he S&S Swan Association, will be no real races, just friendly founded in 2002, is organiz- coastal sailing with all the participat- Swan owners Ting its fourth rendezvous to ing Swans. Fun prizes will be given take place at the beautiful Italian and there will be evening cocktail island of Elba, July 2 to 5, 2009. parties and an exclusive look at an More than 25 Sparkman & Stephens interview with Olin Stephens, which Swans from the US, Italy, France, will be shown for the first time. England and Belgium are expected And of course there will be plenty to attend. This is the first S&S Swan of sailing. For more information, Association event organized with visit the association’s website at a brand new formula; in fact there www.classicswan.org. 24 BLUE WATER SAILING • January 2009.