| Flying visit |
|
|
|
 © Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006 The fleet will keep pushing north until it reaches Fair Isle, an island situated between the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands at the northern tip of Scotland, which the fleet must pass to starboard. But first the teams still have approximately 600 miles to cover and so far the light wind has been hampering progress greatly. This afternoon fleet has been temporarily freed of the light conditions, and have been enjoying beautiful sailing conditions, but this is only a pause in proceedings and between midnight tonight and dawn tomorrow there will be very little breeze and the fleet may stop completely. This could mean that the fleet may arrive too late into Rotterdam to sail the in-port race currently scheduled for Saturday. Decisions on when to hold the race will be reached on Thursday this week when the estimated time of arrival for the fleet is more accurate. The wind has been so light that the crews on several boats have amused themselves with the local wildlife, mainly racing pigeons. Jan Dekker on ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) demonstrated his skills onboard when a visiting pigeon was encouraged to sleep, cradled and rocked in Dekker’s hands, before being placed quietly on the cockpit sole where it remained motionless with its head tucked under its wings. When Dekker gently stretched its head out, it woke up straight away and flew up to the boom. Onboard Brasil 1, they also have a flying visitor. Their pigeon spent a whole day onboard, and inspected the interior of the boat and was especially interested in the navstation where it walked across the keyboard. “It visited the interior of the boat, ate with us and drank our water. It is still here and we’re thinking about putting it into the watch system. Who know? It might spot some wind somewhere,” said Andre Fonseca. Perhaps it is working? Yesterday, as ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) was quietly ghosting through the glassy still water, they suddenly had a race on – against a flock of seagulls which easily swam up to the boat to have a look at what was going on. “I think it would have been easier for us to ride their bow wave, as opposed to them riding ours,” laughed navigator Simon Fisher. In the waters of the Irish Sea a pod of curious dolphins also paid a visit to ABN AMRO TWO, not an uncommon affair during the race around the world, but this time was little special. “With the sea completely calm, we could see them darting about deep beneath the water, gracefully and effortlessly, a view that is usually hidden from us by the wind and the waves,” wrote Simon Fisher. Onboard the leading yacht, Irishman, Damian Foxall has been revisiting his youth as he the team sail Ericsson up the west coast of Ireland. “I had the pleasure of the morning watch on deck as we passed the Kenmare River where I grew up, The Skelligs Rocks, which still have the remains of monks hermitage, Puffin, The Bull, Cow and Calf islands, still there as we gybe downwind. A few hours later we peel kites as the wind builds and I took a trip up the mast to untwist the halyards, giving me a spectacular perspective as I looked over our kite to the Brazilian boat as both boats passed between the Blasket Islands and the Dingle peninsula. It is one of those summer days with a high pressure over the west, which often stays for an extended period; one of those days that makes me realise I was very lucky to have been brought up in this amazing part of the world.” Related Items:
|
Translate the page into your own language
Click on the flag above to select
© 2008 Gone Sailing
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
