About turn for Telefónica Blue

Keel damage for Bouwe Bekking's VO70 at start of the Volvo Ocean Race's fifth leg from Qingdao

In a dramatic opening to leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, minutes before the start gun fired, Telefónica Blue dropped her sails and returned to port, leaving a fleet reduced to three boats to contest the start in Qingdao.

Green Dragon was first over the line in a slow-motion start in-front of her home town crowd, only to relinquish to the lead to Puma as the reduced fleet began their epic journey of 12,300 nautical miles around the infamous Cape Horn and into Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Minutes before the five-minute warning signal, the crew of Telefónica Blue, currently second overall and winner of the last two legs, dropped their mainsail and skipper Bouwe Bekking turned his boat back towards Qingdao. He informed the Race Committee that his team were suspending racing, which under the rules, must be for a minimum of two hours.

The boat was immediately hauled out of the water assess the damage caused when the boat went aground briefly, at a speed of six or seven knots. A crewman immediately went into the water, but was unable see clearly the extent of the problem and Bekking made the decision to suspend racing. The boat could possibly need a full structural check, something which could take up to 24 hours.

"The biggest concern is a crack just above the bulb," said skipper Bouwe Bekking after a brief look at the keel. "All the paint has disappeared - something has moved from over there. We are going to take the bulb off and have a look. That crack shouldn’t have been there. We want to make 100% sure because we aren’t going to the quietest place. We have to do it the proper way."

Out on the race course, code zero sails were set and Puma overhauled Green Dragon to take the lead as the three boats edged their way up the first two-mile stretch of the course in the very light and variable breeze towards the first rounding mark.

A small, but well-behaved flotilla of spectators gathered to watch the start under clear blue skies, keeping clear of the racing yachts so as not to impede their progress.

At first mark, Puma had gained control and, with a man at the top of the mast searching for wind, rounded 53 seconds ahead of Green Dragon. Ericsson 4, sailing with the same crew that started the race in Alicante, was in third place, seven seconds behind.
At the second mark, it was Puma from Ericsson 4 and Green Dragon as the skyline of Qingdao faded into the distance and the crews settled down to face up to 40 days at sea as they race around the bottom of the world and across one of the most desolate oceans on earth.

Meanwhile, yet to complete leg four from Singapore, is the fifth contender for leg five, Ericsson 3. The team has just 21nm to run to the leg four finish line in Qingdao in order to collect four more points. The team resumed racing in leg four on Wednesday after they were forced to stop in Taiwan to repair damage to their boat in a leg which saw two other boats failing to finish.

The race is now on for Telefónica Blue to assess and fix their problem and for Ericsson 3 to re-provision the boat and start leg five as quickly as possible. Ericsson 3 is expected to cross the finish in approximately two hours time.

Gustav Morin reports from Ericssson 3 :

Close but yet so far

That is the situation for us on Ericsson 3. We have managed, with a massive effort from our shore crew, to get the boat ready in just a couple of days. We have sailed the boat to China with just seven sailing crewmembers. We have been through heavy sail changes in complete darkness and biting cold winds of 30 knots.

And now, only about 40 miles outside Qingdao, the wind has died. And there are only two hours until the start.

How about that for a frustrating moment?

Maybe if we would have left just one hour earlier we would have had some more breeze and made it. Maybe if we did that, or thought about that or planned that…. we would have made it.

Who knows?

But, to be honest, we did everything we could and actually we left earlier than we, for a moment, thought was possible.

For sure the guys are bitter but now. We are in the stage of tiredness and frustration when we can only laugh at the situation and try to make the best of it. Even if it is hard to think about now, we are really happy to have reached China and to be able to do the next leg. We will soon have our four points for leg four and we will start to sail to Rio, instead of putting the boat on a ship.

We have probably 40 days to catch up. If our competitors get stuck in a no-wind area we can see that in the scheds, then we can choose another path and pass them. We have far from given up.

Ian Walker reports from Green Dragon :

Goodbye Qingdao

It was with a heavy heart that I left Qingdao today. It was not the most romantic of Valentine’s Days to jump on a boat, say goodbye and abandon my wife and children for 40 days. We have all the adventure and our families have all the worry.

It was hard to leave our new friends in Qingdao too. The stopover has been fantastic with excellent facilities and super-kind people. Nothing was too much trouble in China and it has been good fun to meet our Chinese sponsors and supporters. It was very satisfying to see how enthusiastic all the Chinese people are to Irish food, music and dancing in our hospitality marquee. I hope some of them make the trip to Galway. I will definitely be visiting China again and hope to see a bit further afield. Unfortunately, that is the reality of the Volvo Ocean Race. No sooner have you arrived somewhere and got comfortable, than it is time to leave again. There is seldom time to explore.

It has been a slow start to this leg but already there is drama with the late arrival of Ericsson 3 and the suspension of racing by Telefónica Blue. I am sure both boats will be back in the race and fighting with the leaders by the doldrums - we are certainly not getting away from them too fast. In the first three hours we have managed to sail nine miles. At this rate we will take six months to get to Rio!

Spare a thought for our newest crew member Chris Main. He flew in on Thursday and has never stepped on a Volvo 70 before today - his first sail will be a 12,300 mile trip including the infamous Cape Horn - I hope he likes it and doesn't want to get off. We will miss Anthony Merrington (Youngster) who is injured as he is one of our best drivers and most experienced trimmers.

Also spare a thought for our shore crew who have worked tirelessly since we arrived from Singapore, often in freezing conditions. I am sure they will have a good party now that we have left - you know what? Lads (and lasses) - you deserve it - thank you.

More photos on the following pages...