Team Brunel - Blog 4

Blog 4 ARC Rally Team Brunel Nov. 26, 2015

How did we get on till now
Exactly 4 full days have gone by in a fantastic race and we are exactly
halfway in mileage to St. Lucia. The averages per helmsman go up, the
topspeed remains the same. The bravest of the gang (or the daredevils?)
push her ladyship VO65 to 26+ knots, being it day or night, a shift is a
shift and we want to push on. The predicted weather versus the end is
still the major variable. If the breeze stays on (like around 22kn all
the way now) we still might have a chance to equal or beat the mighty
100 Ft Leopard of London record of 8 days- 14 hours- 39 minutes and 59
seconds. This is our challenge in the challenge to arrive before
December 1st, 3:24:59 AM on the finish line. And of course sailing as
fast as we safely can to win the race on handicap (corrected time)
versus our Class 2A competitors. As the new update has not arrived for
today, yesterdays positions look good but the yachts Farfalla,
Durlindana 3, Talanta and Weddel will not let us get away easily. At
yesterday noon we had 212 NM- 264 NM and 269 NM lead over the runners up
(having sailed some 1000 NM straight line) but they do have quite
different handicaps so even winning line honours does not tell us who
wins the race overall until time correction factors are applied.

Interior designers delight…
The VO65 was specifically designed to accommodate 8+1 crew during the
round the world Volvo Ocean Race. She’s a dream to sail on once all
sails are set and handles impeccably gentle. Down below however about
half of the area, ahead of the mast, is reserved for sails and storage.
The aft quarters provide 4 pipecott bunks on port and starboard each and
another 2 on both sides of the main cabin. The main cabin is a joint
functional space for kitchen (this word highly overrates the poor and
impractical design of a swinging gasstove and 3 lookalike sinks out of
which only one has plumbing?)- engine room, watermaker, wardrobe for
dripping foul weather gear.
Moving around the 3D bumping area is an art in itself . Johnny, Rocky
and Jens just toured the globe and appear totally natural in this rough
habitat. The rest of us literally bounce around and seek for balance –
even sitting down. When the boat plunges into a wave the speed only
reduces about 10 knots in seconds. Try 40 km/hr on ski’s into a loose
pile of snow… very effective way to stop immediately- including the man
balancing on one knee and other foot with a boiling kettle in his hand
trying to poor water in a coffee mug… challenging indeed.

The boys…
A 15 strong crew or 9 is quite a difference. Not all off watch fit in
the bunks on the high side so some sleep on the leeside. Untill ‘Gybe’
is called. The watch is busy for 20 minutes on deck getting her mistress
turned and organised for the next speed runs over the other bows but
down below the organised chaos commences again. Pack your gear and move
across. Where’s my socks/shirt/short/lamp etc etc and stumble in plain
darkness through the bumping dungeon … far from comfortable! But that’s
racing in a true race machine.
On deck we gather around the helmsman in the back of the bus. Anywhere
further upfront is avalanche area where you get flushed all the time.
But above all: weight at the right place. So downwind as we’re sailing
all along we need the weight aft so most of the time the deck crew live
on 3m2 of the 100m2 total deck surface.

Techie talk
Imagine your apartment in a non stop earthquake, what would it look like?
Given the everlasting beating of this boat it is incredible that
everything keeps working.. except minor details.
*The waterpump that serves drinking water collapsed Tomas found when
housekeeping in the watermaker box, so Jens rerouted the drinking water
to the salt water handpump, problem solved.
*Turkish cowboy broke his bunk- almost squeezing Johnny to sandwich size
(laying in the bunk beneath), don’t use the bunk anymore, problem solved.
*And the ‘worst nightmare on a busy boat’?? the toilet did not only
block but ‘replied with solid mass ..(rest of explanation censored for
privacy reasons..). He cleaned up the area and will not do this again.
Problem solved .
*It feels as if we have 10 miles of rope on board so getting only once
tangled in the wrong block isn’t that bad at all. To unravel this
Gordian knot takes brains, power and foul language. Rocky fixed it as if
he’d been knitting since childhood. Problem solved. (one ego damaged as
TC caused most of it in a beautiful highspeed broach- his problem .. not
solved) Note from the editor: despite 30 minute fight with the Gordian
knot, average speed steady on 20 kn, Johnny just kept steering along as
if no one else was on deck.. focus focus focus.
*And we found our satellite data ghost: Everytime the PC came online to
get new weather gribfiles the Microsoft mob pushed a zillion bits
towards us with useless updates consuming our precious data bundle. So
the satellite gang responded: ‘contact your provider, you have no more
access’. Charming if you have no more data capacity literally on the
middle of the Ocean..?? duhhhh. Anyway, Johnny & Ferry (not an new
Icecream brand) as Mac-edicts figured it out and killed the Microsoft
invaders trick. Problem solved.

Time for a seat in the sun, away from the media desk
Your OBR a.i. Koen