Finally, we have finished, but not easy. Five miles out, absolutely no breeze for a couple of minutes.

No cheers, no handshakes, as soon we crossed the line. We know we had an absolute shocker and have given a better podium place away. On personal note, this was the leg I have been looking forward to so much: sailing through home waters, going around a lot of corners, a leg, which suited us well on paper, but the opposite, happened.

Now we will focus on the inshore, where we have the best track record by far, and then it will sweet to finish on top in St Petersburg.

We have picked up some family members, who will sail with us through this nice area back into Stockholm; I know they will enjoy it.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking – skipper

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] The International Jury has denied the Telefonica Blue claim for redress. The Jury convened in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday afternoon to hear the case. Within two hours, they came back to tell Telefonica Blue its claim had been denied.

“(I’m) a little bit disappointed…They dismissed the protest, which is unfortunate for us and fortunate for the race committee and race authorities,” said Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Telefonica Blue. “That’s it, that’s how yacht racing is. No bad feelings, we gave it our best shot.”

To make a successful claim for redress, the Racing Rules of Sailing (62.1) state the request has to satisfy the Jury ‘that a boat’s score in a race or series has, through no fault of her own, been made significantly worse by an improper action or omission of the race committee.’

Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Telefonica Blue, said that his boat grounded before the start in a shallow area that was too close to the start line. The area, he said, was ‘high risk’ for navigation.

Further, he claimed his team’s standing in the leg was compromised when Telefonica Blue was unable to haul out immediately after returning to the marina in Qingdao, due to insufficient depth at low tide. He also thought the Race Committee should have postponed the start when it learned the Telefonica boat had been damaged.

But the Race Committee said that when laying the course it took into account ‘the obstacles that we knew were there based on the information we had at the time.’

‘There was sufficient water around the start,’ according to the Race Director Jack Lloyd. He went on to say the Race Committee wasn’t aware, before the start, that Telefonica Blue had run aground, but only that the team was suspending racing.

During the hearing, the Jury chairman Bryan Willis agreed that Telefonica Blue’s finishing position was probably made significantly worse after the boat grounded on an uncharted obstruction minutes before the start.

But clearing the other hurdles in the redress rule (no fault of her own, and improper action by the Race Committee) was more difficult.

The Jury found that Telefonica Blue hit an uncharted object in area that had sufficient charted depth (10 metres). The team called the Race Committee to suspend racing, but did not give a reason at that time. Regardless of whether the Race Committee knew the reason Telefonica Blue was suspending racing or not, it was under no obligation to postpone the start.

The Jury also found “the Race Committee made reasonable efforts to ensure the start was set in a safe area” and had previously taken soundings in the area but didn’t find any readings that disagreed with the chart.

Neither the Race Committee nor the race organisers had an obligation to provide constant access to a port for repairs.

Thus the Telefonica Blue request for redress was denied.

Bekking says they won’t ask for the hearing to be re-opened: “This is it…we had a couple of things that we thought might make an opening, but you can drag these things on and we have an in-port race this weekend,” he said. “Now we just have to think about Saturday and go yacht racing.”

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Just went in great style around Cape Horn. Not meaning blasting around, the opposite is true, only four knots of breeze, so it gave us a splendid opportunity to have a real rounding party.

The cigars were out, home brewed grappa was served and each of us got a golden earring. Plenty of time for individual pictures and interviews, with a big sign Cabo de Hornos in front and the Cape on the background.

David Vera and Mike Pammenter were, on this occasion, allowed to pose in their Speedo swim shorts, as that is what they wear on Telefónica Negro when it is warm. But here onboard we have the rule to wear ‘proper’ clothing, so they can pack them away until Rio, where they probably will exchange them for some tangas instead.

This was my seventh rounding, and number four in very little wind, even now I’m not sure what I prefer. The breeze gives you the classic rounding, but in little wind there is more enjoyment and actually the opportunity to live the moment is more intense. Of course this was a way better rounding then last time, when the night before we nearly sank. We talked a fair bit about that experience and still realize how lucky we were at that time. But we talked as well about the old days when the square riggers came around; they must have sometimes been completely handed over to the will of King Neptune and praying for survival when rounding in a gale.

Yesterday we had some big breeze, up to 35 knots and beam reaching, so the fire hose was continuously on and very uncomfortable on deck and downstairs as we were slamming hard. I gave up trying to count the number of slams in minute, as it was nearly every second we bounced off the waves. We had to slow down, and hoisted a small staysail. So today is the complete opposite. Now slowly heading north and every mile we sail it will get warmer, especially good news for some of the Spanish guys, who still and never will get used to colder temperatures.

Bouwe Bekking – skipper

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

A short update from Telefonica Blue. Beating upwind in 15 knots of breeze, progress is ok, but about 2-3 knots slower than normal, as we are sailing with our small J4.

It is good that this sail has a separate stay, independent from the forestay otherwise we would have been out. So we are all looking on the bright side, it could have been game over, but luckily not. The sea is confused, but there is nice light outside, at least that’s what I think. Patan [Pablo Arrarte] can’t care less, he is rolled up like a small ball, trying to stay warm. The northern people onboard are laughing, we still are without gloves and only have one thin base layer on. We are teasing Patan and telling him, wait until we are getting real south. I offered him already extra gear, just in case.

Tom [Addis] is making adjustments to our polars (theoretical boatspeed for each angle), as we are going slower having only the small sail, to see what kind of implications it has on our routing.

And last, which we haven’t forgotten: we all like to wish Pedro, our CEO, a happy birthday!

Bouwe Bekking – Skipper

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

A great team effort brought us through the horror storm. Monster waves and a max recorded windspeed of 55 knots (before the windgear busted) gave us a lot action and the lead in the race.

Unfortunately, our teammates on the black team didn’t survive and sustained major damage and had to retire. Up until then, they have had a great race, and we were neck in neck when this happened to them.

Being onboard in these conditions is like being in a washing machine that is being continuously hit by a sledge hammer in the mean time: very, very noisy.

Telefonica Blue rides through the storm, leading the race. China Sea, 25 January 2009. Video copyright Equipo Telefonica

We sailed most of the time with 3 reefs and the stormjib up, with the keel in the middle and all the sails downstairs as well, just to make sure we could sail as slowly as possible, but with enough steerage to avoid the big waves.

The only thing I could do was give my thoughts and input from my bunk; the word “frustrated” is not strong enough for how I felt. The boys did a great job nursing our puppy through these conditions, and above all, they understood that the main goal was to come through without damage; when they asked for more sail, I denied them.

We sailed that way until the moment I felt comfortable. Being downstairs you can really feel what is going on. I can tell who is driving and when there will be a big launch off a wave; you feel one with the boat.

Last night we tacked to sail away from the finish, as we started crashing too hard. We allowed ourselves to invest some of our lead, you can’t have it all. As of this morning we are full in race mode again.

Oh, yes, I am feeling better and can move around a bit again, so no excuses for not writing more.

Cheers,

Bouwe

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Bouwe Bekking] After the Christmas break, the Volvo Ocean Race resumes competition tomorrow, Saturday, 10 January. The in-port race of Singapore will be the second race around the buoys since the start of the race in October last year. Bouwe Bekking’s TELEFONICA BLUE were invincible in Alicante, taking two bullets, and now faces the next round of short-course racing standing second on the leaderboard after winning Leg 3 from India to Singapore.

Since arriving in Singapore on 22 December, Bouwe Bekking and the crew of TELEFONICA BLUE have enjoyed some well-deserved time off. Bouwe took the opportunity to disconnect from the sailing world with his wife and daughter: “The days off with my family are like winning the jackpot and I just love them. We had a nice break in Bali; way too short, but we knew that from the beginning.”

While Bouwe and his ten crewmates were away from the boat, the shore team has been working hard carrying out a complete check of their VO70, even though the boat completed Leg 3 in good shape, as Bouwe remarks, “we didn’t have any issues with our boat, but that said we still wanted a thorough check. The keel has been taken off, hydraulic rams out, rudders out, mast out and the entire boat stripped to zero, so plenty of work for the shore crew.”

In Singapore, we’ve seen that some of the teams have had issues with the weight of their boats after the first 15,000 nautical miles of racing, but that’s not the case for TELEFONICA BLUE. “We have been always cautious about weight”, Bouwe explains. “When the race started we were on rule minimum, 13860 kg, and when we checked here we had increased by 30 kg. Most likely moisture and adding small items, so we’re still well within rule maximum of 14,000 kg.”

“The BLACK boat, though, started the race at the max number, and they have had to take some lead out of the bulb to stay within the maximum weight allowed. We know all the other teams were on max weight as well when the race started, so we assume that some have had to take weight out as well.”

READY FOR THE FIGHT

After what we saw in Alicante, some may say TELEFONICA BLUE is comfortable racing around the buoys. Bouwe, who will call the tactics while Iker Martínez drives, like he did in the first in-port race, agrees, although this time there will be some differences compared to Alicante, which was the team’s home for some months before the start of the race. “The racecourse looks to be much smaller than in Alicante, so the most important thing is to get around the course and to make sure the spinnaker comes down cleanly. It is not ideal, the course is very short, but it is the same for all the other boats. So, the key will be to sail carefully. We have the same two grinders from Alicante back onboard -Carlo Castellano and Federico Giovanelli-, so that is nice.”

For this in-port race, the weather forecast says the boats should expect a tough scenario, especially given the length of the racecourse. “It looks like it’s going to be a windy day, so I think the team who makes the least mistakes will win. Speed is not so important, and we know all boats in the race are capable of winning if they sail well”.

What is clear is that TELEFONICA BLUE will fight hard for the 4 points awarded to the winner of the in-port race. At this stage, Bouwe’s team stands 4.5 points behind the leader in the overall. Ericsson 4 has 35 points ahead of TELEFONICA BLUE’s 30.5. A good result in Singapore could mean closing the gap a little bit more.

After this weekend’s in-port race, the teams will have another week before the restart of the main race on Saturday 16 January, when they set off on Leg 4 from Singapore to Qingdao, China. Bouwe is clear there will be plenty to do for TELEFONICA BLUE in the remaining days before facing yet another unknown leg, “we’ll have one more day of sailing, a couple of days off and, then of course, we have to put all the gear and sails back onboard.”

It all seems nice and simple. Load up the boat and off they go. Reality is quite different. What the crews have to face from the sound of the gun at the start until they cross the finish line in Qingdao has the makings of a nightmare: 2,500 nautical miles north, most of it upwind and going from 30ºC plus of Singapore to the around -10ºC of Qingdao…

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

We manage just to hang in with the leaders. What has happened to us is big disappointment for me and the rest of the guys, as we were, in our minds, ready to make more gains. We know that power reaching is a strong point for us.

We will investigate the daggerboard once we will reach Cochin. There was only 15 knots of breeze, but I reckon an impact with an object is the most likely cause. It is like a window in your car, it is very strong, but one little stone can shatter the glass into a thousand pieces.

I suspect that an impact damaged the board and this created the chain reaction. Frustrated, yes, but can’t change it back, keep chipping away and see what the future will bring us.

The boat is not easy to steer in these conditions, as we as we don’t have anything to prevent us sliding sideways. So every big wave, and there are many, hard pushes the bow down, resulting in making a big correction with the rudder, which of course creates drag. Normally if you look backwards, you can see a close to near straight line from the stern water, but now you can see that we zigzagging over the ocean. On deck it is back to normal, wet, wet, wet, the helmets and ski-goggles are out again, and the guys drive as hard as we can, as we know we are still in there.

Bouwe Bekking – skipper

Life aboard Telefonica Blue during leg 2. Southern Indian Ocean, 21 November 2008. Video copyright Volvo Ocean Race

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Bouwe Bekking] Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09 starts Saturday, November 15th. This time the fleet faces 4,450 nautical miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cochin, India, the first completely new and unknown leg of the race to be sailed by the eight participating boats. No knowledge of these waters means that the teams will have to rely on statistics instead of experience. Now in his sixth round the world race, Bouwe Bekking feels confident in the days before the start of the second leg thanks to the preparatory work done with navigator Simon Fischer.

“We have studied data of this area collected from the last 16 years, so we have good understanding of what can happen in general. But clearly it will be a matter of keeping an open mind and adapting as we go along.” 16 years means 16 different situations for this time of year to study, but prudence may be the key to success, or in Bouwe’s words: “Stay close the fleet, and don’t do anything drastic, that’s our idea for this Leg. I think the boat will do all the good work for us.”

Strategy plays a very important role on this Leg, especially when one faces light to medium conditions, which is the theoretical situation for most of Leg 2. “Hang in there for the first couple of days and then strike once getting close to the equator,” Bouwe explains. The weather forecast for these first days of racing may shows a contrasting scenario in comparison to the theory, but the team of TELEFONICA BLUE is working with the forecast they have been given: “First we can go upwind as we leave Cape Town, then run in big breeze once we start heading North in the Indian Ocean.”

Big breeze is exactly what hit Cape Town this last week with gusts up to 60 knots, an unwelcome and unexpected situation that is destroying the teams’ schedules. “The locals have told us that it is never like this. We have been talking about what you would do if you had conditions like this at the start; common sense says you wait until the gale is over. But if you see others leave, you can’t stay behind. Luckily we don’t have to make that decision, as the wind will lighten off. The topic of discussion for the last few days has been how quick you can be back on the water after these stormy days here in Cape Town. My opinion is not to rush as I prefer to keep everything in one piece.”

Since the finish of the first Leg some of the teams have made crew changes. This is not the case with TELEFONICA BLUE as Bouwe explains: “I was happy with my team, so there is no reason for changes. I could see very good progress and development of our team members so it would be shame to get them off, and have to build up somebody else again. We are on the right track.”

“The crew is feeling confident and are fit. Of course we have had a little set back with the weather, but that is the same for all the others. We are on top of things.”

Time is too short in Cape Town

This first stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09 has been short and perhaps even too short. For Bouwe Bekking’s team, the stopover lasted just 12 days before the restart of the race. “I haven’t seen much of Cape Town this time; it was home, base, home, base… Marginal time for recovering, it would have been way better with another 5 days!”

Luckily, the 6,500 nautical miles from Alicante to South Africa have not been so bad for the health of the blue Spanish VO70. “The job list was relatively small, with the only ‘big’ changes being in relation to the sails,” Bouwe explained.

Speaking about changes, we take a look at the load of the boat for this second leg, which will be shorter than the previous one but pretty tricky in terms of calculating the route and the amount of days on the water. “We have made some changes to our food and have adjusted our calculations for fuel consumption, based on the experiences learned on Leg 1.” Clothing is another area that has undergone changes. The route from Cape Town to Cochin leads the fleet across the equator for the second time, but also passes through areas where low temperatures will mean more clothing required than usual: “Basically we are bringing everything to cover both the cold parts and the hot bit at the end, so it’s a relatively big wardrobe.”

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Equipo Telefonica] Bouwe Bekking (Deventer, Holland, 17/06/1963) is one of the ‘brains’ behind the ambitious project that is the Telefónica team. Joining the Spanish team for the second time, Bouwe Bekking’s five previous participations make him one of the most experienced sailors in this edition of the race.

- One team, two boats and two shipyards: Why the decision to build “Telefónica blue” and “Telefónica black” in different places?
Initially the plan was to build only one new boat and to use the former Brasil 1 for going around the world, but then fortunately Pedro Campos found the funding to build two new boats. Unfortunately, by the time we decided to build the boats, the yard in Alginet didn’t have enough space available, as they already had new bookings, so we had to find a new space and that is why we went to Southern Ocean Marine in New Zealand.

- The question lots of people will ask is: ‘is there any difference between the “Telefónica blue” and “Telefónica black” builds?
The boats are exactly equal, using the same lines. The only difference is in slightly different materials, but that’s just because by the time we started building the boat in New Zealand there was only one supplier available at that stage. That’s the only difference, just different materials.

- What differences can you see between the previous version of the Volvo Open 70 and the new Telefónica boats?
I think the big difference is, of course, that they did a lot of homework on these boats. When decided that Farr Yacht Design was going to work exclusively for us we had ten months of preparation, so we did a lot of tank-testing, we did a lot of research, and last time that was not the case. Last time we only had 2-3 months to do research and then we basically started building. This time we did a lot of homework and I think that is one of the first big differences. We came up very fast to shape, and we learnt from the last race that we maybe lacked a bit of stability. This time we have really powerful boats.

- What do you think of the new course, and what do you think the hardest part will be?
I think the hardest part will probably be the heat, because we are sailing around the Equator a lot and there will be temperatures of up to 50-60 degrees inside of the boat. The rest of it will be more or less the same as before. Everybody will have to sail in light areas, so in that sense there’s not much difference, but I think the heat will be really hard on our bodies.

- This will be your sixth Volvo Ocean Race, a race that includes extreme conditions and some incredibly tough situations, but here you are again… What makes you come back for more?
What I really like about the Volvo Ocean race is the teamwork. You are with just nine other guys and you’re fighting the elements. When you put a good team together it can mean great success. One of my main reasons for doing this is because it’s not just about myself. I’m not going to be successful if I don’t have a good team, and that’s what I really like about this. That’s the first thing, but of course there’s the sailing, which is just fantastic. You can’t get any better sailing than this; days and days sailing at 20-25 knots… Where else can you get it? The only race you can do it is in the Volvo Ocean Race!

-What’s your best memory from all the races you’ve sailed in?
I remember in the last race, a couple of days before Cape Horn we had 30-35 knots of breeze and there was a clear sky and a full moon. Then, if you are sailing in 6-7 metre-high waves, fully under control. It can’t get much better. It’s a great thing to experience, but it’s also one of the harder things to bring to the public. That’s just one of the reasons you come back all the time.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back