Wednesday 25 March 2009

VOR: TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 40 QFB: received 25.03.09 0319 GMT


David Vera during a sail change onboard Telefonica Blue, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro. Image copyright Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race.

by Bouwe Bekking (skipper)

Just to set the record straight after reading some articles, so that the families don’t have to worry.

We still have a complete menu for five days, meaning full breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plus a variety of snacks. On top of that we have pasta, extra muesli and some bags of the least favourable warm meals, plus plenty of protein powder, so no worries from our side in case it even takes longer. I think the misunderstanding has come from that our crew is talking and dreaming about real food, and the craving to eat big steaks and other nice things, but they can stuff themselves here with 5000 calories or more per day, if they like!!

Also we have enough fuel so we can run everything, including the airco (fans). Just remember, all boats have another 135 litres of so-called emergency fuel as well. If a boat would run out using their normal tanks, it has the option to use the emergency fuel, but it will most likely cost them some sort of a penalty.

So it is still light and shite: our favourite weather and a saying I have learned from friends on a Danish boat I race with. Whatever the forecast would be, they always make the best of it and approach it positively. Another 24 hours light weather for us and then it looks like a reach into Rio. The routing is still not very clear of an exact arrival, so let’s keep it somewhere on the 29th.

Volvo Ocean Race

No comments: