24 March 2015: We received a fair amount of comment on the post a few days ago about the Volvo Ocean racers on the leg from New Zealand to Brazil and since there is some new exciting (to some of us, anyway!) stuff out there, I thought I would give a short update and a rather amazing bit of film sent in by the Russian boat.
So the lad and gals (there is one boat crewed just by women! God bless 'em!) have had a really rough - and scary - 12 hours down there where the wind howls and the seas are mountainous. Three of the boats actually tipped over - not all the way (see the video at the end) but still, pretty scary - but no one was hurt. And finally, the women's crew suffered a knock down in the early morning. And of course, most of the drama was at night! Flying gybes, broken gear, and major delays - this is a race remember. Here are a few pictures of what it's like on board when it gets wet and a video of the Russian boat doing what they call a "Chinese gybe". (The Chinese boat experienced on too! - wonder if they call it a Chinese gybe also!) We used to call it a "goosewing" gybe.
And finally, the promised video: (click on the link!) You will also get a pretty fair idea of the speed these boats attain when the wind is up!
Volvo Ocean Race gybe
May all your personal gybes be controlled! Wishing you calm seas and
Fair Winds
Old Salt
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