Two more home

Telefonica Blue and Team Russia arrivals leave just two boats at sea in the Volvo Ocean Race

Bouwe Bekking/NED with the crew of Telefónica Blue became the fifth team to finish leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cape Town today. She crossed the finish at 1118 GMT (1318 local time) after an elapsed leg time of 22 days 23 hours 18 minutes 37 seconds (22:23:18:37). Even though the team has been sailing for fifth position, the crew has been working as hard as if it had been for first place.

On arrival, skipper Bouwe Bekking said: “It feels great to be here in Cape Town. It was a hard leg and we learnt a lot and I think we came back well after the breakages of the first night. It is nice to be here with my family. Seeing my family is my biggest thing to look forward to.”

Navigator Simon Fisher added: “It was a wet trip. We had a big couple of days in the south Atlantic when the boat was completely covered in water. We did have to bail out as, with so much water going over the deck, some ended up below. It was good, but hard. I think we were unlucky with the breakages, which put us on the back foot. It was frustrating, though we were improving all the time. We have learnt a lot in the last week, which will help us to be a lot more competitive. Everybody is happy and healthy and glad to be in Cape Town.”

Telefónica Blue has been playing catch-up for the entire leg when an early setback cost them dearly. After motoring out to the start area, with His Majesty King Juan Carlos 1 of Spain and his daughter the Infanta Dona Elena onboard for a short time, on day two, just 20 miles from the start, part of the steering broke. As only one rudder was working, and the crew was flying a large spinnaker, the boat immediately wiped out as the crew lost control. The boat slowed for nearly six hours while the crew tried to make a repair, but the decision was made to divert to Algeciras, in the bay of Gibraltar, for a 12-hour pitstop.

Back out on the track, the team found good breeze and the pitstop did not appear to be as harmful as the crew first thought. Bekking and Fisher watched the computer carefully, looking at all their options. But, by day six, they were still trying to claw back the miles, and patience was wearing thin.

On day eight, 18 October, the crew dared to fly their big repaired spinnaker. “For the first time, we are back up to our potential numbers,” Bekking wrote. As the fleet ran into the Doldrums’ brick wall, Telefónica Blue was back in contention, just 48nm behind Puma.

Narrowly avoiding a partially submerged log on day 15, the team had another near miss, this time with something living. “Judging by the hole it left in the water, and the speed it went away, it was pretty big and not best pleased to see us,” said Simon Fisher at the time.

As the fleet waited for the anticipated 40-knot gales to arrive, the crew of Telefónica Blue found themselves situated to the east and rather too near the centre of the South Atlantic High for comfort. “It just hurts badly,” Bekking said when the crew had to sail on the unfavoured gybe, away from Cape Town, to escape.

But, as the gales swept over the fleet, Telefónica Blue had to throttle back and watch the leaders streak off into the sunset. Day 20 and the Spanish crew took a dive south and spotted their first albatross. The sun was shining, the wind had eased and the waves were just a little bit smaller. For the first time in days, life onboard Telefónica Blue was a good. The team had overhauled three boats and was now in fifth place, but, on day 22, once again the boat flipped on its side as she careered out of control. All hands were called on deck to drop the spinnaker, which had fallen in the water, but miraculously had stayed in one piece.

The leg finished with the boat playing her Stealth card yesterday and keeping the advances from Team Russia in abeyance. “We sailed tactically well this last couple of days, and played the ‘stealth’ card very well,” said Bekking this morning.

Sixth to arrive this afternoon was Team Russia. South African team member Camron Wills (31) took the helm of Kosatka as it crossed the finish line at 15.29 (GMT) , after a challenging first leg in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09.

Cape Town resident Cam, was a late addition to the crew, only stepping on to the boat a few days before the start in Alicante in place of team proprietor Oleg Zherebtsov, who was unable to compete due to an untimely death in his family.

A first time participant in the Volvo Ocean Race, it was a dream come true for Cam to sail into his homeport on a Volvo Open 70. Arriving on the dock to rousing cheers from friends and families, Cam beamed; “It’s wonderful to arrive here in Cape Town, I’m home. It’s just been the most amazing, challenging three weeks of my life. Now Mikey (Joubert) and I are looking forward to showing the crew around our city.”

Talking about the race, skipper Andreas Hanakamp (42) said:” I am really happy with the boat and the crew, we gave it our all, every mile, every minute. These boats are ruthless - they demand everything from the crew and more. Every day we pushed ourselves to the limit, pushed the boat and each other. It’s been a steep learning curve, and each day we learned more about keep the boat speed at the maximum. It’s really apparent how close and how fast the whole fleet is. The gains in speed will be down to marginal changes.”

Also delighted to reach Cape Town was South African bowman, Mikey Joubert (36) For Joubert, this is his fourth Volvo Ocean Race, having famously said on TV in the 2005/06 event, “I am never, ever, ever doing this race again.”

This time Mikey said: “It was a tough, cold and windy Leg. Fantastic though and incredible sailing. It’s pretty special sailing towards Table Mountain in 20+ knots of wind, bright warm sunshine and big waves, as our finish to this leg, and to now be here in Cape Town.”

Leg one proved to be a roller-coaster of challenges for the Team Russia crew. Within 48 hours of leaving Alicante, they faced some intensive, 'creative' boat maintenance, to fix the leaking keel ram boots. Having another two people below decks mending their shredded A4 asymmetric sail, left the crew very short-handed on deck through the Straits of Gibraltar.

However, they fought back into the fleet in a cracking sail down towards the Doldrums, at one point reaching 3rd overall in the standings. A difficult tactical call to cross the doldrums, which at first looked good, saw them trailing the fleet that opted for the western route. After rounding the turning point at Fernando do Noronha, the team were in last place. However, motivation and team spirit stayed high and the crew never stopped fighting.

With a keen eye on the weather routing, the team kept heading for the breeze, and prepared themselves well for the anticipated storm force winds. Power reaching across the South Atlantic saw them start to reel in the miles and over haul Team Delta Lloyd and Telefonica Black, putting them into sixth place, a position they held for the last 500 miles to the finish.

Even the last few days racing, saw further challenges for the team as they lost the use of the boat’s aerial, which meant they could not download vital weather routing information, and in the final 48 hours, once again ripped the crucial A4 sail.

Navigator Wouter Verbraak summed up leg 1 saying: “It was so exciting. The three hourly reports make to so competitive. In Leg 1 we saw everything you wish for - it’s like a complex game of chess, with some white water rafting, and crash and burn racing, all-in-one.”

However, despite the exhilarating racing, the team are delighted with the boat, and experienced very little serious gear failure. Shortly after the boat arrived the shore team got to work. The boat was hoisted out of the water to work through the jobs list to prepare Kosatka for the next leg to Kochi, leaving from Cape Town on 15th November.

The next boat to finish will be Team Delta Lloyd later tonight.

Leg One Finishing Order into Cape Town
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA)
2. PUMA USA (Ken Read/USA)
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE)
4. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR)
5. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED)
6. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT)

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4: 14 points (FINISHED)
2. PUMA: 13 points (FINISHED)
3. Green Dragon: 11 points (FINISHED)
4. Telefónica Blue: 10 points (FINISHED)
5. Telefónica Black: 6 points (RACING)
6. Ericsson 3: 5 points (FINISHED)*
7. Team Russia: 4 points (FINISHED)
8. Delta Lloyd: 2 points (RACING)

More pics on page 2...