The B&G Report - Volvo Ocean Race - Mark Chisnell - Leg 4 begins

by Mark Chisnell on 14 Feb 2015 Top Volvo Ocean Race correspondent, navigator and sailing analyst, Mark Chisnell writes a regular report for B&G on the current race and trends he sees developing. This week he Looks at the first few days of Leg 4.

The opening 2-3 days of Leg 4 bear little relation to the rest of the leg. We discussed in last week’s Leg 4 preview how most of the route to New Zealand would be reaching south in the Pacific Ocean, through trade wind and Doldrums conditions. Unfortunately, to get to the Pacific the teams have to cross the South China Sea. Even more unfortunately, they happen to be doing it at a time when the prevalent north-east monsoon wind is blowing dogs off chains.

A Tough Couple of Days

'The past 24 hours have undoubtedly been the toughest of the race to date.' Matt Knighton, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 9th February 2015.

'I’ve been too seasick to think about anything racing related for the last 24 hours.' Sam Greenfield, Dongfeng Race Team, 9th February 2015

'It’s an indescribable feeling of nausea that takes hold within the first 36 hours of a rough leg start, a stomach churn so permanent that it makes you incapable of doing anything, at least not well.' Amory Ross, Team Alvimedica, 9th February 2015

'We have been out here for 24h now and finally we get what we came for - life at the extreme. Extreme angles of heel, extreme-ly WET, extreme levels of difficulty in doing ANYTHING on board.' Sam Davies, Team SCA, 9th February 2015

'I would give the top of my finger – chopped off without anaesthesia – to get the boat in smooth waters, if only for a moment.' Stefan Coppers, Team Brunel, 9th February 2015

'We are still seasick, and trying to switch to sea mode.' Francisco Vignale, MAPFRE, 10th February 2015.

'The air smells of poop. Daryl just climbed out of the head and dumped a huge bucketful of 'who knows what' over the side. Apparently someone backed up the outflow and it was overflowing.' Matt Knighton, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 10th February 2015.

Too Much Information?

Well, you get the general idea. No one is having fun out there, but then, this is Life at the Extreme, and the one thing I don’t recall being promised in the brochure was fun.

The battering has been the principle story of the first couple of days. Strategy has been relegated below survival – just getting the boat to the Philippines in one piece is the strategy. And in truth there has been only one other decision to be made anyway, and it came right after the opening laps of the re-start, and has dogged them all the way across.


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