Yachting: Six months in a leaky boat

Photos from on board ABN Amro One in the Southern Ocean

New Zealander Mike Sanderson is living the life captured in the lyrics of the Split Enz song. The ABN Amro One skipper tells of conditions in the Southern Ocean on 'Black Betty' as the crew steer the narrow course between speed and disaster

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Leading a crew into the Southern Ocean on a Volvo 70 is the most stressful thing I have ever done.

Just the thought of how far you are away from safety is cause for great concern. Most of the stress comes from walking this fine line of pushing the boat hard enough so that we can maintain some sort of buffer here in front but then also keeping it in one piece.

The reality is that even though we have got a 240-mile lead at the moment we still have to push to at least 90 per cent.

About four days ago we decided to push hard when we already had a 50-mile lead, which in normal terms is quite big but the opportunity was setting up to be able to get on the good side of a cold front that was roaring across the Southern Ocean.

We knew if we could get that little bit of an extra lead then there was that chance that we could split the competitors off on the light airs behind, and that's exactly what happened. At one stage we came close to having a 400-mile lead.

However, sailing can be a very levelling sport. Now the guys behind have ridden up towards us gaining 150 miles in a nice little Southern Ocean storm. With these boats going, at times, 35 per cent faster it means that a mile isn't worth as much.

The stress is pretty constant, as when you are in a big breeze you are constantly worried about the boat.

Is it going to survive hurtling out of that massive wave, is the rig going to stay up as you bury into the back of a wave and go from 32 knots to 17 with tons and tons of water coming across the deck, is the keel system going to last, are the rudders strong enough, are we going to hit something as we do 35 knots in the pitch black?

As soon as the wind dies just a bit it's back to performance stress. Will there be light airs at Eclipse Island and so on? My list of "worries" really is too big to write down.

But to put it in perspective, it is no bigger than any of the other skippers' out here and no bigger than Volvo and Whitbread skippers before me - it is just this time it is all happening so quickly.

Right now it is all about not having to push hard and gain but to try to keep the thing together and let the guys behind take the risks.

With regards to the troubles that some boats have been having, it is of course a shame, but the Volvo Ocean Race is a very tough event to win. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

The reasons why people are breaking? It's pretty simple.

We have a fixed weight for the boat. The lighter you can make everything else on the boat the heavier you can make the lead bulb on the bottom of the keel.

The heavier the keel, the more sail you can carry and the faster you go.

So since the day the new rule was launched, everyone, including us with our two boats, has been constantly looking at how to walk that line between strength and reliability versus lead on the keel. Sure you can make a Volvo 70 totally bulletproof, but it will be slow for 90 per cent of the race and you still might break something.

Every team has been walking that fine line and we are not going to know who has got the balance of speed versus reliability right until June in Sweden.

It will be an exciting six months. Despite all of this and the stress of this leg there are some great moments. The greatest moment of the leg so far was when we once again saw that upwind in a breeze, our boat (Black Betty as we like to call her) is the fastest in the fleet. I believe this is inherent in the design and some key decisions we have made, so that is good.

The boys on the white boat (ABN Amro Two) are doing a fantastic job out there.

I think they are showing the world that they mean business. Looking at the skeds, wind and conditions that they have out there at the moment they are 'smokin'.

They are here to win and will push everyone as hard as they are pushing themselves.

So now for us it is back to the weather, watching the boats behind and trying to get some good breeze. We have positioned ourselves so that if they do catch up from behind, they will have to run over us before they can get past.

But this is ocean racing and who knows what'll happen ...

Cheers
Mike, Betty and the boys.