Coming up on course

Brutal ride across the South China Sea continues for the Volvo Ocean Race boats

As the six VO65s continue to slog their way eastwards on the wind across the South China Sea, leader Dongfeng Race Team at the latest sched has around 215 miles to sail before the point when she has passed the north end of the Philippines and can finally crack sheets.

Meanwhile the pain continues for the boats, and particularly their crews, with the wind having built into the mid-high 20s overnight (UTC) as the boats remain close hauled on port. To date there have been no reports of broken boats, but there have been numerous cases of seasickness which will be having a debilitating effect. The good news though is that the wind has backed slightly allowing the boats to come up on course. The bad news is that the latest forecasts still have the wind veering into the east putting the boats fully upwind as they enter the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan later today (UTC).

Image below (click to enlarge) courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

Perhaps doing more to anticipate this shift, Team Brunel and Team SCA have been sailing higher than the frontrunners Dongfeng and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, and have managed to ease their way north without losing ground on the leaders - still fifth and sixth respectively but only 9.4 and 12.1 miles behind Dongfeng respectively.

Looking ahead the forecast has the wind dropping tomorrow morning as an area of high pressure centred over Taiwan (to the north) encroaches on the race course. Once around the top of the Philippines and as they head off to the southeast they will be sailing back into building northeasterlies before they have to tackle the light winds of a trough before the wind fills in from the southeast...on the nose again.

Team SCA's Annie Lush reports on life onboard sailing upwind in 25 knots:

We're off and on our way to sunny Auckland. The good news is we have wind (always useful when trying to get somewhere fast on a sailing boat), the bad news is there are waves, and lots of them. The sea temperature is relatively warm, (when it hits you in the face, repetitively), and we're all in one piece, just! The bad news is there are waves, lots of them, short and sharp ones. So as we sail along upwind at 11-12 knots it's a bit like driving my old Fiat panda (with no suspension), on an un-made road with lots of pot holes. Only as we're sailing on an upwind course the boat is very heeled over, meaning not only are we slamming up and down in the chop but we're also living at 25-30° of heel (I never tried this in my Fiat Panda but I'm sure it'd be about as comfortable as it is in a Volvo Ocean 65).

Life at 25° whilst pitching up and down is pretty is hard, comical at times but mainly just unpleasant I'm one of the lucky ones and as yet have not felt sea sick (although starring at a lit screen trying to hit the right key on the keyboard whilst writing this blog, might push me over the edge). You will be pleased to hear that if you get sick on ferries and boats, you are not alone. Even the toughest and most experienced sailors can get sea-sick. I think there are probably some conditions the human body just isn't quite equipped to deal with.

I fear tonight could be one of those conditions. We're currently sailing along on our J2 with a reef in the mainsail. This is sailor talk which basically means we have quite small sails up ready for some high winds. The sensor at the top of our mast is reading 26 knots as I type, we're expecting this to build to 30 knots through the night (like in all good horror films, the hard stuff always happens at night in the dark). So it looks like one more night of slamming up and down, hanging onto whatever you can whilst trying to get dressed so as to not fall over and trying not to decorate the inside of the boat with yor dinner as you scoop it as fast as possible from the dog bowls we eat from into your mouth. I can smell tonights freeze dried meal wafting over as the hot water is being poured into the powdered mixture a few feet away, it smells like roast chicken. This is a personal favourite, although not at all like the real thing, but we are far too early in this leg to start dreaming about real food yet!

The longing for some fresh fruit, real meat and I have to admit a good glass of wine and some cheese, normally kicks in hard after about 18 days at sea. The charm of living on powdered food and cereal bars has worn off by then, especially as we'll be on about our 5th cycle of the same meals. Luckily we're heading to New Zealand where we hear the food (and wine) is excellent. More importantly I just stuck my head out of the hatch to check on my watch-mates on deck and I could see three mast lights of other Volvo 65's. We're in the middle of the fleet, gaining on our competitors and pushing hard. We have 5000 miles of racing, slamming, stacking, sleep deprivation, changing sails and freeze dried food to go, but it will all be worth it if we arrive into Auckland with a few of those Volvo Ocean 65 mast lights (and a few, probably grumpy, male sailors) behind us. Now it's time to wedge myself into my bunk for I hope at least an hours sleep before I'm called on deck for our next maneuver.