The Irish Times - Wednesday, March 21, 2012
DAMIAN FOXALL
MAKING WAVES: A short break in Auckland was no preparation for what we faced when we left the safety of Hauraki Gulf as six metre waves and brutal headwinds greeted us on route to the Southern Ocean
WE'VE JUST taken a hammering.
Barely had we departed Auckland on the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, heading for the Southern Ocean and we were served up massive seas and gale force headwinds.
This on top of a very short stop-over in New Zealand that was more of a pit-stop really has accelerated the pace of this edition of the race like none of us have seen before.
We knew it was ahead and as predicted, on the first night out after passing through the Hauraki Gulf we were treated to six-metre waves and constant slamming as we edged away from the coast.
Not all of the fleet escaped unscathed as Ian Walker and the lads on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had to immediately turn back after one of their bulkheads popped out of place just as they cleared the relative shelter of the Coromandel Peninsula.
Lucky for them, Auckland was only a short sail back. And even if their shore-crew wasn't already waiting, a full-service boat building industry could have fixed the problem. Within 24 hours, they were back at sea but took shelter from even more heinous conditions.
Walker was up to 700 miles behind us but even since Sunday's start he has clawed back ground to half that distance as we have slowed up crossing a ridge of high-pressure with lighter winds and flatter seas.
Which is just as well given the shock treatment of being thrown into the fray so soon after a week ashore.
It has taken us since then to become acclimatised to the conditions, with a couple of cases of seasickness initially, though these have cleared up as the weather eased.
We didn't escape completely either. On Monday, we noticed water down below and initially put this down to condensation that has returned to Groupama 4 for the first time in weeks as we sail into colder waters.
On closer inspection, we discovered that the through-deck fitting for our J4 sail was leaking, but thankfully this was quickly fixed.
After our damage on the final day of the last leg when we appear to have hit a submerged object that punctured the bow and then started delaminating the hull, we had a brief moment of fear that we had new problems.
We've also had a minor issue with our rig but thankfully that too is fully fixed so we're not expecting issues like the dismastings that befell Puma and Abu Dhabi on leg one and also Team Sanya on the second leg.
The calmer weather that followed the pounding leaving Auckland has allowed us time for repairs and to catch our collective breath as we sail sharply southwards towards the infamous Roaring 40s that are the heart of this race.
Our route is more directly south on this race to escape the severe weather to the north and we expect reasonably fast pace over the next week en route to Cape Horn, which is about 10 days away.
Updated ice reports have caused the race office to implement a massive exclusion zone and we must also cross an "ice-gate" of sorts at 47 degrees south that will keep us from sailing too close to the fields of smaller, though deadly, chunks of ice closer to Antarctica and the theoretical great circle route that would be the fastest course to the horn.
That means our peak speeds are likely to be fairly limited over the next seven days and though we can still expect plenty of thrilling surfing conditions, we're unlikely to be able to play the weather systems enough to deliver the really high speeds that might break record times.
So for now, we'll concentrate on finding a way to break through this patch of light airs to be first into the breeze.
We're pretty much neck and neck with overall leader Iker Martinez on Telefonica and Ken Read's Puma team.
Walker and his Abu Dhabi crew are not so far back that he couldn't catch up and I know from our time on Green Dragon in the last race that he is massively competitive and will be hugely frustrated at this latest setback to their campaign.
We don't want to see any of the others knocked out like this as we came here to race and boats pulling out don't help competition, so we're happy to see them back in action.
All the boats will be guarding against damage because of the long trek and fast pace through the Southern Ocean that lies ahead over the next week and a bit.
Our time in New Zealand was less than one week after three very intense weeks at sea leading up to it and even with a race win, we had very little recovery time for rest, fitness training and a decent diet.
So as we pass the halfway point of our 39,000-mile race, and with 6,000 miles left in the leg alone, we're thrilled to be into the race proper, with Cape Horn beckoning and sleigh-ride sailing to go.
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