http://lamp4.ocvision.co.uk/ en lucy.harwood@intotheblue.biz Copyright 2009 2009-01-05T11:53:41+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/looking-ahead1/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/looking-ahead1/#When:11:53:41Z I am now back in Singapore after 9 days away with my family on holiday in Bin Tan, Indonesia.  It was great to just get away from the chaos of the Volvo Ocean Race, spend time with my wife and kids, and also recharge the batteries. I am now back in Singapore after 9 days away with my family on holiday in Bin Tan, Indonesia.  It was great to just get away from the chaos of the Volvo Ocean Race, spend time with my wife and kids, and also recharge the batteries. Looking at the weather for the next two legs we are going to need it.  While I have been away enjoying myself the shore team have worked their socks off with maintenance and some optimisations. The good news is that the boat was re-weighed by the measurers and found to be 2kg under the maximum displacement. It is a big job getting these boats ready for weighing and will in total have taken nearly four days of work for all concerned.  To be within 2 kg in a 14 tonne boat is a pretty good effort and means we do not need to take any more lead out of our bulb. We could ill afford to have done this as we have a lot of upwind sailing to do. Looking at the weather for the trip up to Qingdao it looks terrible. It will be more than 90% upwind and the daily temperature in Qingdao today is 2 degrees and it is -5 at night. The wind chill is going to be a real shock to the system after sailing for so long in and around the tropics. Needless to say we are checking all our clothing and digging out the hats, gloves and thick thermals. The other thing we are having to prepare ourselves for is the In Port races this weekend. We will be welcoming back our In Port grinders David Carr and Julien Cressant who fly in tomorrow and then we will squeeze in 3 days training at the end of the week. We are keen to do well here and in Qingdao to give maximum coverage to our Chinese sponsors whilst we are in Asia.  All that remains is to thank you all for your fantastic support. The last two legs have been tough on us and nobody is more disappointed at the results than me. Having said that our performance has often been good and we have still been mixing it up with the bigger teams. We will continue to make our presence felt in this race. Reading all the messages of support is a great boost to everyone on the team. I personally re-read every one again yesterday and they brought a big smile to my face. We hope the Green Dragon puts a big smile on your faces in 2009. Happy New Year, Ian 2009-01-05T11:53:41+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/its-christmas-time-but-you-would-never-know-it/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/its-christmas-time-but-you-would-never-know-it/#When:12:29:48Z We are a week on already since the boats arrived into Singapore after Leg 3. The stopover circus is in full swing. Sadly there are not too many sign’s of Santa around here in Singapore and even less so at PT3 (Volvo wet base) in the midst of the huge Singapore container port! We are a week on already since the boats arrived into Singapore after Leg 3. The stopover circus is in full swing. Sadly there are not too many sign’s of Santa around here in Singapore and even less so at PT3 (Volvo wet base) in the midst of the huge Singapore container port. Yes the shore team did manage to fit in an enjoyable Christmas dinner 70 floors up in our hotel overlooking the city, but an early start on the 26th was the start of the “Job list” once again. This stopover has always been considered a good port to complete major servicing and modifications to the boat as our next stop in China is very short, only 2 weeks, and more worryingly COLD, not something we have experienced in this race so far. Our rig has been thoroughly checked through already and similarly the boat inspected in intricate detail. All looks good and so the team are continuing with the modifications and improvements planned. In the meantime we have all the logistical challenges becoming very familiar in each stopover. Our daily challenges range from just moving the team around our various work and “home” locations, feeding the team throughout the day, providing services for them to get clothes washed regularly, shopping for new parts and tools as well as planning ahead for the daily activities as the boat gets back into sailing mode for In-Port training. We then also have the bigger picture tasks like flights to book, accommodation to source for our future stopovers, crew changes and associated paperwork, crew visa’s, money, insurance, physio, special events, corporate sailing and the list goes on. The New Year is only days away and we must be ready again for the Green Dragon to be sailing on the 6th January.  Most of the sailors are relaxing in different parts of the world fully deserving of a short Christmas break with friends and families. A few need some fattening up !! A few just love it here so much they are in work and grafting to ensure we are on schedule ! A good effort indeed by them all. Lastly I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish all our team here and at home, our huge list of suppliers and the many friends we have made as we have traversed across the world a very Happy New Year in 2009. I hope the success of the Green Dragon brings smiles to many faces as the race progresses next year. 2008-12-29T12:29:48+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/frustrating-times/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/frustrating-times/#When:07:54:04Z All the talk on the Malacca Straits was of pirates, fishing nets, shipping and obstacles but it was the wind shifts and tide that we should have been focusing on. It has been a frustrating 24 hours on the Green Dragon. All the talk on the Malacca Straits was of pirates, fishing nets, shipping and obstacles but it was the wind shifts and tide that we should have been focusing on. It has been a frustrating 24 hours on the Green Dragon. We gained many miles back on the leaders yesterday and then got stuck in a similar place to ERT 4 with no wind and lots of tide against us. For 5 hours we sat and got washed backwards into the old wind and we couldn’t get into the Westerly that carried the leaders away. It was infuriating, as we knew this was likely to be our 1 shot at getting back into the race. We licked our wounds and made gains back overnight but today we again got stuck at the narrowing of the straits in no wind and foul tide. This was simply bad luck on our timing. As we struggled to turn the corner the Russians reached up behind us in good wind from 24 miles astern! They are now about 3 miles behind us, which will ensure close racing until the end. This leg has simply not gone our way and I look with envy at the close racing amongst the top 4. It might seem strange but on balance I think we have sailed the best on this leg that we have so far in the race and everyone remains very focused on the task ahead. What is in no doubt is that we are all looking forward to getting to port.  Considering I write that at this stage of every leg it does make me question why on earth we choose to do this in the first place! 2008-12-22T07:54:04+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/ok-this-is-enough/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/ok-this-is-enough/#When:11:01:53Z OK enough is enough lets get to Singapore. This is by far the longest I have ever been sailing upwind in my life. Even when we got to the Pulau We scoring gate and could turn right the wind shifted right with us so it was dead on the nose again OK enough is enough lets get to Singapore. This is by far the longest I have ever been sailing upwind in my life. Even when we got to the Pulau We scoring gate and could turn right the wind shifted right with us so it was dead on the nose again. It has been upwind and very shifty in the Malacca Straits which has meant lots of tacks. This is a nightmare for all the crew as it is hard to get any rest when off watch and you have to repeatedly carry all the stack of sails from one side to the other, as well as everything inside the boat down below. Tactics are very hard as you have to balance what shifts are worth tacking on against the hassle and loss of speed involved. Nothing is worse than tacking only to find the wind shift back and having to go through the process all over again.  You only get one or two of those before the crew have had enough! We have not gone well upwind in terms of boatspeed and we are very much trying to minimse our losses in the hope an opportunity will open up later in the leg. It feels like the last few days have gone quite well for us despite 6th place at the scoring gate being below our high standards. Onboard everyone is hot and a bit fed up of sailing upwind - it is all work and no pleasure. We have also had a major battery charging problem and at one point were very much looking like having no power for the last few days. That would have meant no food, water, lights, instruments or communications. Andrew (Animal), James and Steve have been on the tools all day and fortunately we are now able to once again charge off our main engine (the generator regulator is broken) and we are stocking up fresh water just in case of further problems. The shipping lane is getting busier and busier but no sign yet of many fishermen or pirates. What there is, is a lot of debris in the water like bits of bamboo and tree trunks. We have a permanent spotter during daylight but will have to keep our fingers crossed at night. It will only be a matter of time before we hit something. Hopefully it won’t be something as big as the tree we have just sailed past that stuck 7ft up out of the water! On the bright side we have made good progress against the clock and Christmas on dry land is now looking more than likely. We now have under 500 miles to go. 2008-12-20T11:01:53+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/taking-forever/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/taking-forever/#When:15:53:20Z Going upwind in a Volvo 70 can sometimes suck! I am beginning to question the merits of the new route through Asia if so much of it is upwind. The first problem is that these boats don’t point very high so it takes forever to get anywhere truly upwind. Going upwind in a Volvo 70 can sometimes suck! I am beginning to question the merits of the new route through Asia if so much of it is upwind. The first problem is that these boats don’t point very high so it takes forever to get anywhere truly upwind. The second is that the hulls have so little rocker and are so flat that they slam on every wave. The third is of course that the boats are so powerful that in any wind the waves that make life so uncomfortable come thick and fast. This leg hasn’t been really windy and we haven’t experienced a big sea state, but with an average of about 20 knots overnight it is still hard to stay in your bunk at times, let alone sleep. The next leg to China will be a nightmare. So what is going on out here? Well we have all made our way North West and are set up on port tack near the lay line to the scoring gate at Pulau We. It has been a real drag race for the last 24 hours - something we are not too well equipped for in these conditions and we have slipped to sixth. Our last tack to the East was probably a mistake, but we realised this really fast and fortunately only went for an hour. There has been more wind in the North which, coupled to a left shift has made gains out here. Our plan now is to stay close to the leaders so we can capitalise on any shut downs towards the end of the leg. We are comfortably ahead of Kosatka (Team Russia) and Delta Lloyd at this stage. Onboard all is quiet as we are enjoying crossing off some miles finally. There is the normal battle with salt water sores in this heat but otherwise nothing major to report. Probably the funniest incident in the last few days was young Freddy Shanks who went on the bow at night in the pitch black, we all heard a bit of a scuffle forwards and were rather surprised to see him coming out of the companionway hatch cursing and swearing 20 seconds later. He forgot that we had opened the front hatch to get some air in the boat to help people sleep and had fallen straight through. A seven foot drop onto solid carbon, landing on your back is not something I would wish on anybody and in truth he was lucky to escape serious injury - a broken back or neck would not be out of the question and has been known. In typical Freddy style he hardly said a word picked himself up and went straight back on the bow to do what he had meant to do! Lesson 1 - don’t leave the front hatch open at night! 2008-12-18T15:53:20+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/two-sections/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/two-sections/#When:09:14:21Z This 2,000-mile leg to Singapore will be split in two. The first section, down the Indian coast, across the channel and upwind across the Bay of Bengal from Sri Lanka to Sumatra to the first scoring gate, is reasonably straightforward. There will be quite a few strategical decisions but there should be enough wind to keep us moving all the way. This 2,000-mile leg to Singapore will be split in two. The first section, down the Indian coast, across the channel and upwind across the Bay of Bengal from Sri Lanka to Sumatra to the first scoring gate, is reasonably straightforward. There will be quite a few strategical decisions but there should be enough wind to keep us moving all the way. Then there’s the second section, which is from the scoring gate to the finish, and here anything can happen. We expect a lot of light winds, quite difficult currents and we’ll be tacking or gybing down through the Strait of Malacca and I think it’s going to be quite difficult. In an effort to minimise the risk of piracy, the race organisers have purposely laid the course to keep us on northern edge side of the channel close to Malaysia through the Strait, so hopefully that will work for us. I guess our priorities here will be sailing in the right direction and using the wind we have, keeping out the way of the shipping, and trying to avoid the fishing boats and their nets as well. There’s going to be a lot to keep an eye on, that’s for sure. Read more of Damian’s diary pieces in the Irish Independent here Bearing in mind that this leg is going to be generally light-wind sailing, we’ve tried to keep the weight down by not stocking up with extra supplies. We still have to feed ourselves properly but we don’t have extra supplies, we just have what we need. It’s all freeze-dried food along with a selection of savoury and sweet snacks, which are essential for treats. But what’s more important on these types of legs where it’s extremely hot, is hydration. We have to drink a lot of water all the time, and have to keep reminding each other to drink a lot of water. This is very important over two weeks, when dehydration can start to affect you quite badly if you let it run. Our new boys on board, Steve Hayles and James Carroll, have survived their first few days and seem to be enjoying it. It’s always good to have some fresh blood on the team, particularly on such a long race. By the way, after three days at sea on this leg, we’ve decided that booms are a good thing! Even though we coped reasonably well without the last one, we think we’ll keep this one. Our new sails, which arrived and we tested in India, are looking great too so we’re very optimistic about the rest of the race. Unlike us, most of the other teams in the fleet had quite a lot of time prior to the start of the race in Alicante to develop their sails, so we feel like we’re sort of catching up with sail development as the race progresses. We’ve still got a lot of work to do because certainly on some points of sail we can see that E4 and Puma are still faster than us, but we do feel we’re closing the gap down on every leg. I think the guys have done a great job of sailing the boat strategically well. We’ve always managed to stay close in the same bit of water and tried to limit the difference between the rest of the fleet’s speed and ours. And the good thing is we still feel we have more room for improvement than they have, and we’ll just have to continue working as the race goes on and try and improve as quickly as we can. That is certainly going to be the key to our eventual success. 2008-12-17T09:14:21+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/prize-for-tenacity/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/prize-for-tenacity/#When:07:25:05Z If there was a prize for tenacity then I think my crew deserve it. We do not have the speed of the Ericsson, Telefonica or Puma boats and it is not easy to see them putting miles on us whenever we are near them. All we can do is continue to squeeze every ounce of speed we can out of the Dragon and work hard on our steering, trimming and sail changes If there was a prize for tenacity then I think my crew deserve it. We do not have the speed of the Ericsson, Telefonica or Puma boats and it is not easy to see them putting miles on us whenever we are near them. All we can do is continue to squeeze every ounce of speed we can out of the Dragon and work hard on our steering, trimming and sail changes. 80% of this race has been a drag race where miles have slipped away but in the other 20% we have fortunately made good calls that seem to have kept us in the race. The last 48 hours have been brutal with up to 3.5 knots of current against us on the Southern tip of Sri Lanka and light headwinds. Because of the piracy marks there was no way of getting to shallower water and we finally came to the conclusion we had to take the somewhat drastic action of heading south to escape the current’s clutches. We had been sailing for hours making no more than 2 knots and often 0 VMG towards the finish so we had to do something. We didn’t really want to go south but had to bite the bullet. We also noticed that Telefonica Black had made some gains that way. So south we went and sure enough the current finally reduced and we started to pull bearing on the fleet. Both Telefonica boats have also done this nicely and have got the jump on the other frontrunners. Now we are trying desperately to get back north a bit so we don’t get hung out to dry down south where lighter winds await. Still 3rd place at this stage is quite an achievement and keeps the spirits up. There is not much to report on life onboard except it is hot and sweaty. I have only put my waterproofs on once and I suspect that might be it for the leg. Steve Hayles continues to do a great job navigating in very difficult circumstances and James Carroll is settling in nicely. There are no signs of any pirates yet but we have come pretty close twice to colliding with fishing boats - one incident in particular in the middle of the night was described by Neal as ‘the closest he has ever come to hitting one!’ - I guess that’s too close for comfort then! 2008-12-17T07:25:05+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/still-at-sea-for-christmas/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/still-at-sea-for-christmas/#When:17:38:03Z I am writing this before I go to sleep in a bed for the last time in twelve days or so. I have just checked the weather and am resigning myself to the likelihood that we may still be at sea for Christmas. So far we have had three stopover ports. Alicante was very professional, we had great facilities and was commercially excellent for teams and their sponsors. Cape Town has the stunning geographical backdrop of Table Mountain and an abundance of great places to eat and things to do. Cochin has now put itself on the map for the warmth and friendliness of its people that we will not forget in a hurry. It makes me wonder what will stick in the mind from Galway but I think I have a pretty good idea! I am writing this before I go to sleep in a bed for the last time in twelve days or so. I have just checked the weather and am resigning myself to the likelihood that we may still be at sea for Christmas. Although this leg is under 2000 miles, a distance we would cover in four days in the Southern Ocean, twelve days looks far more likely in the light winds that promise to predominantly be against us for this leg. This leg, certainly as far as the scoring gate will be a big test of upwind light to medium air speed. I hope we have the legs to stay with the fleet. Tactically there looks to be fewer options initially, so it will be the exact timing and detail of all that we do that will be important. Put simply we have about 320 miles of reaching in very variable winds to the turning mark off Sri Lanka, followed by 1000 miles of upwind sailing to the scoring gate off the Northern tip of Indonesia, followed by 600 miles of light air running through the Malacca Straits. Throw on top of this the fact that we will have huge influences of clouds and thunderstorms throughout due to the nature of where we are in the world plus an array of obstacles in the form of fishing nets and boats, commercial traffic and maybe but hopefully not pirates. Sounds great doesn’t it! Despite all this I am quite looking forward to it. It is funny but I seem to get itchy feet when I am on land too long now. It always seems a relief to get back on the water. I am delighted to welcome Steve Hayles onboard as navigator for this leg so that Ian Moore can take a well earned break and also thrilled that James Carrol will get to sail a leg with us. James is one of the shore team who work so hard behind the scenes to get the boat ready for action – he is a sailor at heart and it is great he will get to benefit from the fruits of all his hard work. Thanks again for following the Green Dragon on her journey around the planet. 2008-12-12T17:38:03+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/a-tricky-leg/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/a-tricky-leg/#When:05:45:59Z I am not very good at losing and this was no exception. Rarely have I been as disappointed as I was when I realized that we were going to finish 7th on leg 2 after two weeks hard work.  I am not very good at losing and this was no exception. Rarely have I been as disappointed as I was when I realized that we were going to finish 7th on leg 2 after two weeks hard work. For two weeks we had fluctuated from 3rd to 5th in the leg and repeatedly seen hard earned leads evaporate. Each time we stayed calm dusted ourselves off and made gains back against our competitors. Only on the last trap did we get passed by two boats and there was no time for us to fight back. It was a classic case of it paying to be behind – maybe we should have taken our sails down and waited for a few hours!  What is really galling is that we were on the verge of doing something really special and pulling off a good result despite sailing 13 days without a boom! It felt like it all counted for nothing and we might as well have not even tried. That is not true and it is certainly not the Green Dragon style. We have a lot of backers, sponsors and supporters and the one thing we will always do is try our best right to the finish. We are far too proud to do anything else.  It is good that it hurt so much to lose these boats and hopefully we will use that pain to try and improve and do better in the future. The focus of our team was clearly demonstrated by the fact we went out sail testing the morning after we arrived in Cochin – we had to check some sails out prior to taking the boat out of the water if we were to move the sail program forward. Another source of inspiration is our shore team who react the same whether we finish 1st or last. They are hungry to get into the joblist and give us the best platform for the next leg. The sailing team have all had three days off and we have now been back on the water for two days. We have a new A3 spinnaker but frustratingly our new lighter air mainsail remains stuck in customs. Fingers crossed we get it tomorrow. As you may have read we have two new crew members for leg 2. Steve Hayles has the unenviable task of stepping in as navigator for leg 3 . This will not be easy as it is a hugely important decision making role, but the fact many of the crew and I have sailed so often with Steve before, and his knowledge of the boats and race should help no end. As for James Carroll in the pit I am thrilled he will get to do a leg with us. James and I have worked for two years together and he has toiled long and hard on this boat. He really deserves this chance and I know he will not let us down. Leg 3 looks to be quite tricky for all of us. The first part down to the tip of Sri Lanka could be quite light and stormy if the trip up was anything to go by and then there could be a bit of a drag race across the Bay of Bengal before the scoring gate and the incredibly tricky 600 miles down the Malacca Straits. Here there can be huge thunderstorms but often no wind. There will be strong currents, lots of shipping but perhaps more significantly lots of fisherman and nets. The threat of piracy is very real on this leg and I suspect we will all have some tricky confrontations to deal with. Hopefully the huge dragon on the mainsail and Chinese writing will scare them off – if not there is always the onboard smell that should do the trick! 2008-12-10T05:45:59+00:00 http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/getting-ready/ http://www.greendragonracing.com/en/teamblog/article/getting-ready/#When:12:51:27Z Leg 2 is over and the start day for Leg 3 gets ever closer. One week and counting already, so little time for all to prepare again for the surprises ahead in Leg 3… Leg 2 is over and the start day for Leg 3 gets ever closer. One week and counting already, so little time for all to prepare again for the surprises ahead in Leg 3. I personally have great memories of Cape Town which was our base for nearly 3 weeks prior to Leg 2. Our Green Dragon HQ at the ex-Team Shosholoza base was fantastic and gave us all the facilities we yearn for in all stopovers.  As always we had great help from the local sailing fraternity which really makes the logistics team job so much easier. Thanks Henry in particular. We miss your shopping skills here in Cochin where we have sourced many things but it’s just that much harder. Another member of our extended team who made a huge last minute sacrifice and contribution to our team was my good friend Menno who received a surprise call from me whilst in a Business meeting in Holland at 5pm in Amsterdam just 36 hours before Leg 2 started. A few hours earlier that day our Sailing team suffered some gear failure resulting in a broken spreader tip. We do not carry spare spreaders but we did have a full rig with spares in Rotterdam. With an immense effort from Jan, Trevor, Craig and Yatesy we located our spare rig, got customs clearance to get the required parts extracted and delivered to Menno in Amsterdam. He then jumped on the first flight on Friday to arrive in Cape Town at 22:30 the night before Leg 3 started. Menno craftily disguised the spreader in a snowboard case and it arrived in perfect condition. Of course our shore team and sailors were ready to replace the broken spreading and the work was done around midnight! How much easier this job is with the team we have and those friends we can call on. Keep your phones on! I may be calling sometime… Rio anyone? Phillip Allen - Logistics Manager 2008-12-07T12:51:27+00:00