Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Black in 50 knot winds near the Philippines, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China
Two days ago the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race has suddendly turned into a hell of strong winds and hude waves when the fleet have been hit by a severe storm while crossing the Luzon Strait in their route from Singapore to Qingdao. Almost all the boats have been damaged and have undergo reparations. The worst situation has occured to Telefonica Black, Fernando Echavarri's crew has been forced to withraw from this leg and find shelter.
Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Black in 50 knot winds near the Philippines, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China
But let's see the chronical:
The subtlety of the chess game has been replaced by the misery and physicality of the assault course. Is it going to come down to the last man standing, as the remnants of the fleet embark on a dangerous crossing of the Luzon Strait, while others seek shelter from the storm?
Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Blue takes a battering as huge storms hit the fleet, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race
02:00 Saturday - PUMA turned south while leading and headed downwind, they’ve stopped in a bay just south of the town of Vigan - but reported no details on the nature or extent of the presumed damage.
05:30 Saturday – The new leaders, Telefonica Black, pulled out and sheltered by the coast for almost three hours to change to their storm trysail, after reporting that the boat was unmanageable with two reefs in the mainsail. This sail change was before it even started to get properly rough.
Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Black repair their J2 sail, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China
07:00 Saturday Telefonica Black turned back from the Luzon Strait after taking a hammering in the enraged sea state, whipped up by fierce winds and an opposing current. The team was concerned about a crack that had developed in the hull-deck joint. The initial plan was to find shelter in the lee of the Philippines, and examine the damage.
07:15 Saturday - Delta Lloyd turned back from the Luzon Strait for the calmer waters of the coast to repair unspecified damage.
08:30 Saturday - Green Dragon, already nursing a damaged rig, followed Delta Lloyd’s lead and headed inshore.
At 10:00 Saturday, Telefonica Blue were still going out into the Strait, followed by her sistership Telefonica Black. Behind them, the two Ericsson boats, 4 and 3, were also still sailing upwind, but had not yet reached the northern tip of the Philippine Island of Luzon. That’s where they have to make a decision to leave its shelter and embark on the crossing. Conditions have been horrendous – the graph of Maximum Wave Height (MAX_WV_HGT in the Data Centre) shows peaks of 14 metres for Telefonica Blue, with True Wind Speed (TWS) maximums of almost 50 knots for Telefonica Black.
Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Blue hammers through the Luzon Strait on leg four
Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Blue hammers through the Luzon Strait on leg four
10:30 Saturday - Skipper Ken Read reports in an audio interview, with Amanda Blackley, that PUMA has a broken boom, and Delta Lloyd have just pulled into the same bay to repair their damage. Delta Lloyd have officially suspended racing to complete their repairs
Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean RacePUMA Ocean Racing break their boom on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race
4:00 Sunday - Telefonica Blue continues to lead, showing great skill and daring in tackling the Luzon Strait. At 04:00 GMT, Telefonica Blue was less than 50 miles south of Taiwan and the team appears to have chosen to head to the east of the island. Skipper Bouwe Bekking reported from on board that conditions had moderated somewhat, but that it was still 'nasty'.
Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica Blue takes a battering in heavy storms, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China
4:30 Sunday - Telefonica Black informed the Race Office it would be retiring from the leg to Qingdao.
"The most important thing for this team is the safety of the crew," said team CEO Pedro Campos at the time. "I'm really proud of the work that both of our teams have done, facing a storm after leaving the coast of the Philippines."But this morning, the team has decided there is no chance it can race the boat to Qingdao and retired from the leg.
"We survived the worst part of the storm, but still have a stiff breeze and nasty seas," he wrote. The skipper has been confined to his bunk with a bad back, but he says the rest of the team has done an incredible job. "They all worked as a great team in the last 36 hours. Since I was still stuck to my bunk, with a back muscle injury, the only thing I could do was stay awake and give my input and advice - above all 'BOYS, KEEP IT ONE PIECE!!!'"
Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race
Telefonica black forced to withraw form the fourth leg of the VOR by severe storm
18:00 Sunday - Trouble struck for a third time on an eventful fourth leg for Green Dragon when the Chinese-Irish boat this afternoon reported a recurrence of bow section damage. Ian Walker and his men were the first to sustain damage on this 2,500-upwind slog from Singapore to Qingdao when they broke their forestay three days' ago. Yesterday, they were among the casualties as a fierce storm struck the fleet in the Luzon Strait near the coast of the Philipines on day seven. They were forced to seek shelter along with PUMA, Delta Lloyd and Telefonica Black, with damage to the bow section. Having suspended racing, taken the requisite 12-hour penalty and spent most of their time making repairs at anchor in Salomague Bay, they resumed racing at 08:45 GMT this morning. Six hours into their restart, the crew reported that the repairs they had made to the forward ring frame – a structural component – were not holding as expected and they have been forced to throttle back. They will proceed with caution in crossing the Luzon Strait while weighing up their options.
Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race
Tom Braidwood leads the crew in repairing damage sustained in 50 knot winds, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China
Check VolvoOceanRace.org for updated news
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