On January 2, against a back drop of Table Mountain, the start of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race began in drifting conditions which caused chaos in the fleet. The rounding of the turning mark led to three protest flags being raised in anger, a small collision between ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) and Ericsson (Neal McDonald) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) becoming attached to the buoy as they drifted onto it without steerage. In this inauspicious way, the long drag race south in search of the famous westerly breeze known as the Roaring 40s began with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) leading the hunt.

The progress was slow and the fleet stayed tightly together for most of the next day, but, later in the afternoon, Bouwe Bekking made the brave decision, one he was later to regret, to peel movistar off from the rest of the fleet and head east. The light conditions continued, but Neal McDonald noted, “It’s only a matter of time and the waiting game will be over.” How right he was.

As the wind increased the boats started to fly off the tops of the waves, slamming into the back of the next ones, and a message was received at Race HQ. In the early hours of day three, Ericsson reported a problem with their keel movement system and swiftly turned the boat around and headed for the shore. At 0700 GMT another message was received. This time is was Brasil 1 in trouble. The crew had discovered a structural problem in the deck, and they too had slowed the boat down and reluctantly turned her towards the shore.

Both teams were met by their shore crews who assessed the damage. “It is absolute devastation for the team and for the boat,” said crewman Richard Mason. Skipper, Neal McDonald, added, “Our initial thoughts were safety and the next is our position in the race. Those two conflict each other. We could have carried on for an unknown period of time, but that clearly wasn’t an option in my mind.”

Back out at sea, the remaining five boats were sailing cautiously. “The breeze is still on the nose and the sailing is wet. Below decks it is very noisy as the boats crash off the waves. The Black Pearl is launching off the waves at 11 knots and slamming down hard, making some awful sounds,” wrote skipper Paul Cayard.

Seasickness was common as the motion of the boats turned everyone’s stomachs into washing machines. “For most people the net result was dinner returning the wrong way – the constant pounding causing most people’s stomachs to be set on spin cycle!” wrote Simon Fisher, navigator of ABN AMRO TWO.

The fleet battled with broken sails and broken gear when, thankfully, the wind decreased as the fleet hit the ridge of high pressure which stood between them and the roaring 40s. “It’s almost as if the big man above gave us a little light airs to re-group before we get into the heavy running,” wrote Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. “We have one team racing the boat, and another team fixing it,” he added.

By day four, January 5, Ericsson had made landfall in Mossel Bay, South Africa and the hydraulics experts were grimly looking at the options available to the team. Brasil 1 arrived in Port Elizabeth and it was the day of reckoning out on the racetrack as the threesome that had been pounding south finally entered the roaring 40s they had been longing for.

Movistar, who had taken the easterly course, now had less breeze and the chasing pack had snatched over 20 miles out of her lead. ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) was ploughing a lonely furrow 46 miles behind. The winds started to increase again for both the Dutch boats and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), all still locked together, as they made the left turn and began their southern ocean sleigh ride towards Melbourne. Had movistar made enough gain to the east to out pace this group? Her lead was at serious risk.

By 1600 that day, it was all over for movistar as ABN AMRO ONE stole her lead. Bekking was hurting: “Angry with myself, yes. I am normally the guy who says bake only small cookies and you will be fine. Should have stuck a little closer to the fleet,” he wrote.

There was drama on ING Real Estate Brunel in fifth place when a fitting failed and their spinnaker dropped in the water becoming entangled with their twin rudders. To free it, Adam Hawkins launched himself into the icy ocean, wearing a survival suit, and cut it free within four minutes. “What an unstoppable team of guys we have onboard, a fantastic display of guts and seamanship,” said skipper Grant Wharington.

Meanwhile, the youngsters on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) had an encounter with The Black Pearl movie-style. “She may not have black sails and be crewed by the damned, and I’m pretty sure Paul Cayard isn’t so evil that hell itself spat him back out (I’ve seen Pirates of the Caribbean more than a few times!!), but it was still a pretty menacing sight as the skull and crossbones came over the horizon in a building breeze,” wrote navigator Simon Fisher.

Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE) talked of throttling back and changed down to their smaller spinnaker, but later said, “the speed hit 27 knots… masthead spinnaker, full mainsail, big staysail… pitch black… oh year, we know all about backing off,,!”

By 2200 that night, Ericsson was back at sea, but this time heading up the coast to Port Elizabeth having made a temporary repair to the keel rams. The team was still considering the possibility of loading the boat onto a freighter to get her to Melbourne.

Today, day five, the race office received notification of large icebergs located near 49S 35E. The notice was passed onto the crews. Data from a satellite with radar scanning the southern ocean identified two icebergs in this area – probably one very large berg which had split in two. ABN AMRO ONE extended her lead and at 1000 GMT she was now 75 miles ahead of Bekking and his team on movistar, although the team was cheered by news that their watch leader, Stu Bannatyne, had become the father of a baby girl.

Brasil 1 also had good news. As soon as the boat arrived in Port Elizabeth, she was met by Horacio Carabelli, the technical director of the project, who confirmed that the structural problem could be fixed and that the boat could return to see to resume racing and finish the race to Melbourne. “Brasil 1 should be ready on Tuesday and we can return to the leg and still win some points in the race. The most important thing is to get to Melbourne sailing and keep the team’s spirit as high as possible,” said skipper Torben Grael.

Knut Frostad, watch captain and member of the team’s technical committee, added, “It has been devastating to suspend racing when we had worked ourselves to the best possible position for meeting the strong westerly wind first. I have never abandoned any leg in the 12 years I have done this race, and I am really proud of being part of the Brazilian team who ha no intention of giving up.”

Finally, the Aussie battlers on ING Real Estate rounded off the week with a good day as they clocked up the most miles covered by the fleet during the six hour period between 1000 and 1600 GMT, catching the leaders by 24 miles.

A deep depression, with winds of up to 50 knots from astern is set to pass south of the fleet in the next few days. Will the teams continue to dive south and hit the big winds? The drama continues to unfold.

Share or bookmark this story: