Boats on a Ship

The 5 Volvo Ocean Race Sailing boats that finished the 1st stage of Leg2,  have been loaded on a Ship to be transported into the Arabian Gulf.

Telefonica being lifted on board the transport ship. 

They will be off loaded and sail the last 400 Nm for an End-Sprint into the Abu Dhabi Finish. This is all done, to prevent sailing through the pirate invested waters off East Africa. The start of Leg3 will see a similar action. Too bad this is necessary.

CHRISTMAS time on the VolvoOceanRace(Game) Boats

MERRY    CHRISTMAS

The sailing continues, notwithstanding it is XMas today. The Doldrums is making it not that easy sailing, and that shows as the last days have seen some 3 different leading Boats!

It will all come down , who gets the first out of the Doldrums and picks up the better western winds to the  North of it. 

All boats have now  entered the Stealth zone and it is not possible to track their routes, only the relative positions and distances are shown. 

In  the Virtual boats it is about the same, stuck in a zone with changing but mostly very calm winds. Last night got me stuck for 3 hours at about zero speed, to make some   best of the 5 hrs at a slightly better speed, but not prepared to loose my sleep on it. It was a matter of choice, 3hrs sailing with  3.5 kts speed and 5 hrs of about 0 or 3 hrs zero speed and 5 hrs of 4.3 kts; choice is easy though it does not give the required progress. :( 

Disaster again for Sanya Lan in Volvo Ocean Race

Again a boat in the Volvo Ocean Race has suffered severe damage to the rigging. 


Sanya Lan, this time, discovered a damaged part D2 on their rigging, just before making a tack while preparing a sail change. Had it not been in daylight, it would not have noticed and they could have lost their mast as well. So a little lucky they are. 

Sanya Lan: Temporary fix on D2 of their rigging

Now heading to Tolagnero on the SE coast of Madagascar for repairs. For sure they will try to re-start and make the sailing till the  pick-up point, as this will still bring in a number of points: 5pts. 
On top of that, they will earn some points for the 2nd part of Leg2, the In-Port race in Abu Dhabi and the 1st part of Leg3 and will be able to continue sailing with the fleet on the restart of part 2 of Leg3. see this for more details. 


The other boats have now all broken thru the  weather front and sailing a N-NE heading towards the Doldrums with their  secrets. 

A Good Start of Leg 2

Now 4 days into the Leg 2 and ALL boats are still sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race! So we can say that the start of Leg 2 is better  than in Leg 1. 

Camper searching for the better winds

Tracking the VOR boats is made easy this time with a nice and detailed tracker. 
The boats are today still very close together and mostly sailing East. Benefiting from the Northerly winds. The big question will be , When to turn North?   I think that some boats will be using the stealth mode to surprise the competition and maybe  even wait for the night time. 


The Virtual boats are sailing closer to Madagascar and the first boats have reached the SE point of Madagascar. I expect them to turn north and enjoy the eastern winds, though there is an area of calm wind NE of Madagascar as well. 

VOR Leg2 Start in Cape Town to Abu Dhabi

Cape Town - Start Leg 2 

Isn't is a perfect sailing, nice winds, sunny and the background the Tafelberg, while Starting VOR Leg 2 Cape Town to Abu Dhabi?


The fleet has progressed and sails now just South of South African Coast. The 1st night contrary to the 1st night in Leg1 showed calm winds but luckily all Boats are still in the Race. It seems the navigators have big dilemma's with the  wind systems and while  following close the  SA coast, which at least shortens the  distance , still have to make up their minds on the best route to Abu Dhabi. 


The virtual boats are far ahead, see the TAB Progress Map , but that is also due to a start in another bay some 100 Nm more South. They could  jump on  a wind system that offered good winds for the   1st full day. 

VOR Leg 2 START in Cape Town

A picture of In-Port Race in Cape Town. 

After sailing an exciting In-Port Race in Cape Town harbour , yesterday, it is time to set sail to Abu Dhabi. A video will be available and you can find a link to the Video in the TAB Videos above.  


Today Sunday 11 th December 2011 at 13:00 GMT the 6-Boat Volvo Ocean Race Fleet will START. 


This is not the Start of the Real Boats sailing the Volvo Ocean Race, but also the Start at the  same time for the Virtual Game Volvo Ocean Race Game.


Where the Real Boats have a special arrangement to come to Abu Dhabi, the Virtual Boats will actually sail the whole distance. 


In the Virtual Game you may purchase some options to boost the boatspeed and try to win the Race, BUT.........


there is a group of Players that prefer to sail the basic  boats and as a maximum use the free credits offered in ea ch Leg. The No Money Sailors 
have their own ranking list and communication channels. If the conditions of The No Money Sailors appeal to You, you may contact and request to be registered also. 

Activities for VOR Leg 2 are heating up in Cape Town.

Sanya Lan, lifted back in the water after completing the Hull repair.

This Image is typical for the Volvo Ocean Race city of  Cape Town. Half the fleet arrived Sailing while the other half had serious damage and had to be shipped in.  Azzam (Abu Dhabi) and Puma both lost their Mast, while Sanya Lan suffered a large hole in the Bow section of the Hull. 


All boats have been repaired and in the water ,as we speak. Hopefull they all can participate in the coming events in Cape Town. 


Activities during the Cape Town Stop:


Friday , 9th December - a Pro-Am Race - Start at 11:00 GMT
Saturday, 10th December - the In-Port Race - Start at 13:00 GMT
Sunday, 11th December - Start of Leg 2 - at 13:00 GMT.


For the In-Port Race and for the Start of Leg 2, a live Video stream will be made available. I am not sure for the Pro-Am race, but you can give it a try at same link or always you can visit the Volvo Ocean Race site. 

Paradise Finished VOR Leg 1 into Cape Town

It is a little late to make this report , but the party at Paradise's arrival was toooo good :)


My total Sailing time was 24 days, 5 hours and 10 minutes. 


What to say, as I Finished in 24376th place; in a fleet of over 100.000 registered boats, that is still in the First quarter. But not Good enough, even not considering I have sail in the principle of The No Money Sailors. 


In the 0$ competition, I finished on the 47th place. It is remarkable that the best Sailor on the basic boat, so without purchase of any addition option, finished in 465th place; that is very good considering that the option sails give upto a 30% higher Boat-speed. I do wonder how much money the winner of this race would have had to pay to get the 1st Podium place ?


What did I learn this race?
- Do not blindly follow the leader in the fleet; I looked at the weather for a short while, looked at some virtual boats and saw Groupama take the West Africa Coastal route. I followed only to discover that I was too late to  catch a wind system and fell in a calm that forced me to change course and lost a lot of places. 
- In the South Atlantic, I made a Southern route which looked promising just after passing Fernando islands.  The St. Helena High got some development and suddenly I though it would be  better to sail North of it. This change in tactics against costed me dearly. So make a route and stick to it, unless........


OK , now preparing my boat for the 2nd Leg that will start Sunday at 1300UTC, from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi. The Leg2 description will soon appear in the TAB above. The Progress Map , also above in the TAB's, will soon also show the marks to round and the Finish location.