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All set for the coming action

The boats are now prepared for starting up the next part of the race. After they are back in the water the routines are about the same at each stopover. First there is a sea trial to check all the equipment from engines to rigging, then comes the practice race, normally two days in a row, Pro-Am with cooperate guest, the important In-Port race and finally the Leg start.

The status of all engines is good and this time no damages was caused by rough sea so most of the work was normal service.

The next leg over the Atlantic to Lisbon will be really exiting since there are so few points between the teams in the top. It could be that we will have a new total leader of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Hugh J. Green from our dealer Mattos Marine in Fort Mayers and myself. He was here for a few days and helped me when the boats arrived.

3 x IPS1200

Send some photos of the Volvo Penta vessel, used for customer purposes to show our IPS system. It is called “the Penta Gone” and is a Spencer 70, equipped with 3 x IPS1200. It will stay here in Miami during the stopover and then head back up to Chesapeake.

30 minutes rain enough

  

During one day of the stopover, we had a thunder storm that went on for only about 30 minutes but the whole race village area got flooded. Unreal…

l was standing on the deck of Puma and so much rain came together with hail that even my sandals floated away. The lightning hit a crane at the construction site next to the race village, but luckily no one got hurt

Reunion in Miami

Then it is time for the Miami stop-over….

Finally all of the ships will be together after the reunion with team Sanya. If you remember from the last legs the team Sanya boat was damage and went back to Auckland, NZ and retired from the leg to Itajai, Brazil and did not start the next leg to Miami. The boat was put on a cargo ship and transported over to Savannah, USA to be repaired and will be sailed down to Miami on the 11th of May. 

At the moment, the first boat is expected on Wednesday the 9th of May, maybe Puma will take the 1st position up to their home port. On this leg from Itajai to Miami it`s been a lot better for the crew and the boats, no reported problems from the boats to me but as before I wait to say anything before the first inspections is done. 

Attach a photo of the miniature boats that each team also compete with in a “real” in-Port race. They are exactly copies of the original boats and are radio maneuverable but only powered by the wind, no VP engines here. Normally they are hanging on the wall in the Volvo pavilion by the score board.

Camper has arrived

Position: 26°54′0″S, 48°40′0″W Date: 17 April 2012 Event: Stopover Itajai

Now also Camper has arrived to Itajai as the last boat coming here still competing in this leg. Abu Dhabi will come here by ship and Sanya will go by ship directly to Miami.

As always, I was out on the sea in one of the Volvo ribs to meet Camper and check that the sealing at the drive is still there. It was. I also talked to the guys on-board and from what they know, there is nothing more than the ordinary service I need to do on their engines.

Nice Volvo Penta PR by customer

Position: 26°54′0″S, 48°40′0″W Date: 17 April 2012 Event: Stopover Itajai

Volvo Penta is of course represented in the Volvo pavilion but not at the Volvo product deck outside the Volvo pavilion.  But in Itajai that is not a problem since one of Volvo Penta’s local customers, Imperio Yachts, is displaying one of their boats in the Volvo Ocean Race village, a boat with a twin Volvo Penta engine installation.

This leg was tough on the boats

Position: 26°54′0″S, 48°40′0″W Date: 16 April 2012 Event: Stopover Itajai

Puma was the first boat in the water after repairs.

A few words about the stopover in Itajai so far. 

As I mentioned before, three boats have arrived in Itajai: Puma no. 1, Telefonica no. 2 and Groupama no. 3. Unfortunately, a lot of things happened with the boats in the tough conditions on the leg from Auckland to Itajai, during which Cape Horn was rounded.

There have been a lot of problems with the boats because of big waves and strong winds. Sanya had to return to New Zealand and will be transported on a ship to Miami. Abu Dhabi has to be transported in the same way, but they are coming from Chile and will come to Itajai. It will be late, but probably before the Pro-Am race. I will do my service of the engines as soon as possible after the arrival of the boat. Camper is sailing again and will probably arrive the day after tomorrow.

 Unfortunately there have also been some problems with the engine mounts during this leg, with broken threaded rods. These are now fixed. Even the aft engine mounts for the head engine had to be replaced since they were bent because of all the stress. We are using a new solution that has been developed by our product development department as I have mentioned before. 

Down below deck in the boats you can see a lot of loose things, beds that are broken, things that are torn, very clear signs of how tough it has been. You can perhaps imagine how tough when you watch this video.

 

Back in business

Position: 26°54′0″S, 48°40′0″W Date: 6 April 2012 Event: Stopover Itajai

I just wanted to show you when we put the engine back into the Volvo Ocean Race Rib again. Everything works fine now.

Preparations in Itajai

Position: 26°54′0″S, 48°40′0″W Date: 4 April 2012 Event: Stopover Itajai

Photo: IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race

I have now started the planned repair of the Volvo Ocean Race Rib here in Itajai, Brazil. Since there was not time enough to do it in China, we had to send the Rib here instead. I have only three days to fix the boat because after that the first Volvo Ocean Race boats are arriving. We dismantled the drive unit, but unfortunately the problem was not there. The vibrations come from a bearing at the engine side. We therefore had to take the engine out of the boat. Almost nothing left in the boat now…

The flywheel case is damaged and we don’t have a spare here in Itajai. But we will take it to a mechanical workshop nearby to adjust it and the engine will soon be back in the boat again. 

Meantime we also prepare the work to repair the damage that two of the Volvo Ocean Race boats got on their engine installation during the very tough leg from Auckland. Product development, Stefan Johansson, has during a very short time developed a new solution for the installation and the strength calculations and the fatigue assessments are already done. Impressive!

It feels great for me to meet with the sailing teams here in Itajai now when I can present this solution.

Photo: IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race