No Way Out

SEB's plight goes from bad to abominable, writes Andy Rice, whilst illbruck et al zoom away from the Doldrums

Life has become altogether simpler for the frontrunners as they stack sails for a long, unbroken ride down to the first compulsory waypoint, the island of Fernando de Noronha. That will come as some relief to Grant Dalton and the Amer Sports One crew, who lost precious miles as they struggled to keep pace with the necessary sail changes in the Doldrums, being let down by their halyard locks that hold the foresails and spinnakers aloft.

Assa Abloy's navigator Mark Rudiger is sounding pretty pleased with progress so far. "Most of us have now negotiated the hairpin switch back turns of the convergence zone. A couple have spun out and a couple came through relatively unscathed.

"Now it's into the straight way and we'll see a little bit who has the horsepower. Now it is up to the boat and the trimmers. For the next thousand miles there will be few passing lanes other than through the odd squall or gear failure.

"Aboard Assa Abloy, we made the most gains in the end and this in the midst of an information-gathering crisis. The network onboard failed and we were without Internet access for 15 hours during a critical period. It was hard weighing out how much time to spend trying to fix versus watching the radar and running up on deck to negotiate squalls. In the end, the guys did an awesome job weaving through and changing sails. I’ll be the first to admit that a little luck here goes a long way.

"With the help of the boys ashore, I went into surgery last night and performed a successful bypass and the patient is recovering well. We are almost completely back on line again and hope to start sending stills and videos again.

"This morning was a reminder again of why we come back here time after time. The wind was blowing 12 to 14 knots on the beam and Assa Abloy is chomping at the bit to catch illbruck just ahead. The air is comfortable just at sunrise, and the colours and shapes can't be captured on film. You would also never capture the mood.
"The feeling of coming through the first big test and having a moment to relax with our ever strengthening team and friends. After more than two weeks now, the machine has a well-balanced roar."