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10:32 PM Sun 25 Jan 2009 GMT
The crew onboard Green Dragon have resumed racing to Qingdao. Ian Walker said, 'We are expecting a tortuous trip where we will have to balance preserving the boat with our makeshift repairs against getting to Qingdao as quickly as possible'. They are now in sixth place 297 miles behind current leader Telefonica Blue.
Yesterday Green Dragon reported suffering structural damage to the bow of the boat whilst sailing in plus 45 knots and an agitated six - ten metres sea state. The Dragon headed inshore to seek shelter and find a place to effect repairs, they pulled up in Salomague Bay in the Philippines. Delta Lloyd who had also suffered damage during the storm found shelter in the same bay and were anchored just 100 metres from the Dragon. The storm had taken its toll across the whole fleet along with Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd, PUMA reported a broken boom and Telefonica Black was to be the biggest casualty of the leg. The crew reported a crack to the hull and have since retired from the leg. It was a long 24 hours onboard Green Dragon, the crew worked around the clock to repair the damage to the bow and any other repairs to the sails that were needed.
Whilst the focus of today was to re-join the race course, Green Dragon had another special task to complete. Today marks Chinese New Year's eve, and the crew came together to celebrate the Year of the Ox and Spring Festival onboard. In a traditional ceremony skipper Ian Walker handed out red envelopes with local currency in to all members of the crew to welcome in the New Year. You can see images of the celebrations onboard here and read more on the Chinese New Year below.
Update from onboard last night.
'Salomague Bay is not exactly what I had planned for tonight but here I am sedately typing away in a beautifully calm anchorage. We have decided to 'suspend racing' which means we have to wait at least 12 hours to rejoin the race but we will need at least that to fix the Dragon. It has been a day of attrition in the Volvo Ocean Race and having been out there I can see why. Conditions weren't horrific but 40+ knots and fairly big seas made for tough going upwind. We thought long and hard about stopping for 24 hours to save the boat and sails but instead decided to carry on at a far reduced pace. This was a compromise that would mean 12-24 hours of hard going but then very good conditions from then on. Unfortunately we didn't last the tough going as we sustained damage in the bow of the boat. Fortunately we spotted it quickly and managed to stop the boat and get downwind before damaging the hull skin. As I type this at 3am Tom Braidwood, Neal McDonald and Justin Slattery are chiselling, sanding, cutting and preparing to bond back all the broken bits.
We have to hope their repair holds out to get us to Qingdao. Tomorrow Phil Harmer will supervise taking off and repairing the mainsail as well as 2 other sails damaged in the onslaught. Everyone else is resting right now after a full on day apart from Budgie who is on 'anchor watch'. I am hoping to get underway again soon - as soon as the conditions subside. The race is on to get to Qingdao before the weather turns against us again up North.It feels totally bizarre to be anchored during a race and I am quite looking forward to daylight to see what this place looks like. The funniest thing is that no more than 100 metres away from us sits Delta Lloyd who must also have turned back and sought shelter - the locals will not know what has hit them when they see two Volvo 70's moored outside in the morning. I am still hoping we may yet be greeted by locals in canoes offering us chilled Heineken and fresh fruit but maybe I'll have to leave that to my dreams. Time I went to bed!'
Ian Walker.
UPDATE:
It is reported on the Volvo Ocean Race site - www.volvooceanrace.org, six hours into their restart, the crew has concerns about the repairs (to a forward ring frame) which are not holding up to the rigors of the sea state. The Dragon has been forced to slow pace and is proceeding with caution across the Luzon Strait.
The crew are looking at their options and may decide to wait for up to 20 hours for the conditions to ease, or they may decide to pull in again to make further repairs.
Green Dragon - www.greendragonracing.com
Volvo Ocean Race - www.volvooceanrace.org
by Lucy Harwood / Sail-World.com AUS
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