THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE – Leg 3

                                                Ainhoa Sanchez-VOR
Before even leaving the dock, Andrew Cape, the navigator aboard Brunel, christened the 4,642-mile third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China, the “shitty leg.”

                                                            Ian Roman-Abu Dhabi Racing

“We will encounter a lot of fishing boats against us. Everywhere along the coast of India, Vietnamand Malaysiathere are fishing nets and lines in which we can become snared.”

                                          Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                                            Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                                                       Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

Check out the press release from the boat that ran aground in Leg 2.  “Skipper Chris Nicholson has completed his review, together with the lead sponsor Vestas and sub-sponsor Powerhouse, and the decision has been made that Wouter Verbraak will no longer continue as navigator of the Vestas Wind.”

                                          Brian Carlin-Vestas Wind

The previous VOR stopped in Abu Dhabi and Sanya.  But because of the threats of pirates, they sailed to a secret location near the MaldiveIslands, where they were transported by freighter to the Gulf of Oman and off-loaded for the second stage of the leg.  But this time, pirates were no longer a factor, so this was going to be a voyage of discovery.

                                            Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

                                                          Corinna Halloran-Team SCA

The race began in light winds as the Volvos navigated the straits of Hormuz and it’s smorgasbord of super tankers, fishing boats, sharp rocks lurking just below the water line, and the Iranian Exclusion zone where communications were constantly jammed by the military.

                                          Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                      Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

The navigators had to eat the elephant one bite at a time, dividing the race into manageable bits, each with its own weird and unpredictable winds and weather.

                                           Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                         Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi
Dongfeng’s skipper Charles Caudrelier, highlighted the challenge.  “It’s not the best place to sail. I think everyone is a bit afraid.”

                                          Steffan Cooppers- Brunel

                                                             Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

Once free of the Persian Gulf, the navigators faced some tricky choices in figuring out the fastest way to catch the windy monsoons moving across the Arabian Sea.

                                           Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

                                  Armory Ross-Team Alvimedica

And even when the navigators made the right call, there was the endless game of dodging trash and sea creatures.

                                            Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                                                Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng                                    
When Brunel slowed to a crawl off the coast of Pakistan, they looked through the endoscope and saw that there was something dark attached to their bottom.  So they sent the swimmer of the watch, Luis Balcean, over the side to dive under the boat to determine the problem. 

                                                             Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

                                         Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

Luis came back up, yelling, “A snake! There is a big dark snake wrapped around the sail drive. Give me a knife!”

                                           Steffan Cooppers- Brunel

                                                    
After rounding Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India, the breezes came barreling down the Gulf of Manmar wind tunnel between the Indian continent and the island of Sri Lanka, leaving each navigator to then figure out the best course around the wind shadow of 9,000-feet Mt. Pedro before crossing the infamous Bay of Bengal where all of the navigation lessons went right out the window.  

                                                               Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

                                           Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

The Bay of Bengalgot its name because of its ferocious, tiger-like winds.  But the Volvos encountered a windless sea as calm as glass that the sailors ended up calling “Kitty Litter Bay”.

                                       Armory Ross-Team Alvimedic                                         

                                        Armory Ross-Team Alvimedica
                                     
SiFi, Abu Dhabi’s veteran navigator, put it best.  “It’s hard to pick a point to aim for because one thing is for sure: it’s all going to change by the time we get there.”

                                       Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

                                                              Armory Ross-Alvimedica

The navigators now faced the most daunting task of all, plotting the best route through the island-packed Adaman Seaand then down into the 435-mile MalaccaStrait, a narrow and insanely dangerous rabbit hole between Malaysiaand Sumatra, where the wrong choice could leave a boat sailing backwards with the current while dodging a million different surprises.

                                                          Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

                                                          Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

“I’ve seen floating refrigerators,” tells Brunel’s Jens Dolmer. “It is the rainy season so everything washes into the sea. Those wooden houses on stilts, you know them? You will see them drifting alongside our boat.”

                                                                 Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng

                                                               Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

We hear a lot about the pollution of our oceans these days, but to read veteran Volvo skipper Bouwe Bekking description of the sailing conditions is an ugly glimpse into Dante’s Inferno.

                                         Armory Ross-Team Alvimedica

                                                                 Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng
“I was feeling really sad about the amount of rubbish off the Indian coast, but now that we are sailing in the Malacca Strait I unfortunately have to report that the Indian rubbish record has been broken.  It’s like sailing in a big soup of Styrofoam, plastic bags, bottles, condoms and other things…we can’t see, like human feces, and the millions of bacteria.”

                                                                 

                                   Xaume Olleros-Power Sport Images-VOR

And the navigational nightmare just got crazier as the boats were squeezed into the ten-mile-wide Singapore Channel, a maze of islands and moving obstacles, before getting spit out into the South China Sea.

                                           Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi

                                                              Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE     

                                         Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE

The entire fleet opted for the 1,000-mile upwind beat along the coast of Vietnam where thousands of tea cup fishing vessels and their mother ships came out to play each night like a moving city of lights surrounded by nets, forcing each Volvo to play dodge-boat, snap-tacking for five days, in a tortuous match race with Dongfeng never surrendering her tenuous lead.

After 23 maddening days, Dongfeng became the first Chinese boat in the 41-year history of the VOR to win a leg.  And it was only fitting that her French skipper CharlesCaudrelier and his crew of veteran French and amateur Chinese sailors achieved this amazing victory at their home port of Sanya, China, followed closely by Abu Dhabi, and the Turkish-American boat Alvimedica.

*Low score in the overall category determines position, so Dongfeng is now in first place, one point ahead of Abu Dhabi, with Brunel in third.


                       Nest stop: Auckland, New Zealand