Thousand Miles and a Million Heartbeats

The 13 crew members got together on an early night in October in a restaurant in Lauttasaari, Helsinki. They were planning on crossing the Baltic Sea. The weather forecasts predicted rough seas and strong head winds. The ropes were untied at 7 pm just before sunset.

Sailing to Holland turned out to be a true adventure. Not because of the boat which was designed for race sailing on open sea but because of the crew members coping. During the sail four crew members were wearing Firstbeat Bodyguard devices in order to reconstruct the trip afterwards. After five days of sailing the team reached the Kiel Canal and was able to take a shower and to remove the Bodyguard device.

Image: Open sea sailing is a team sport.

Brisk Life on a Sail
The first two days were as the weather had predicted, sailing on rough seas and against strong head winds, which made more than a half of the crew members sea sick. Therefore some crew members were forced to do double shifts instead of having a rest. This raised the crew members’ individual daily energy expenditure to over 4000 calories.

Image: The resource infiltration of the navigator; the descending curve presents the accumulation of resources whereas the ascending curve describes the resources running dry.

Open sea sailing requires continuous watch on the deck. The watches were four hours in the daytime and three hours in the night. After a watch there was a 3 to 4 hours stand-by shift and after that off duty time. During each watch the members were in charge of navigation, steering the boat, trimming the sails and executing the wind tactics.

On the other hand on a sailing trip the crew members often have an appetite. During one day the chef made and served tens of portions. The day started with a breakfast at 8 am, lunch was at noon and the dinner was served before 8 pm. In addition there was a rich coffee service in the afternoon and a night snack. Each crew member drank about two or three liters of fluids every day.

Resources Running Dry
In a sailing watch the average heartbeat value was from 80 to 120 bpm. Different episodes, for example changing the sails and cleaning up after the rough seas (which caused numerous food items to fall and break), made the heartbeat rise up to 180 bpm for several minutes. Because of those incidents and poor recovery the resources seemed to run dry. Normal daily routines such as taking off the sailing clothes, moving to the bunk and going to the toilet required surprisingly large efforts. The chef was also extremely burdened making and serving the food while the boat was experiencing rough seas.

Drifting
Rough seas pushed the steering system of the boat to the limit. Suddenly in the middle of the night, near the southern tip of Gotland, the watch announced that the boat was drifting and that two kilometers away there was a freighter directly in their path which was flashing at the boat with its floodlight. Luckily the crew was able to calm down as they informed the freighter via the radio about their situation. The freighter let the boat drift. The skipper’s heartbeat sped up from 60 bpm to 170 bpm. It didn’t go under 100 bpm before 5 am.

Image: The last moments of the measurement, half an hour before the arrival to Kiel.

Calmly towards Kiel
After a few hours of sleep the crew started to overhaul the boat. The anchor was weighted at 3 pm and the bow was headed towards the Kiel Canal. From the southern tip of Gotland to the city of Kiel the leg was quite calm even though fairly strong winds occasionally gusted. Focusing on the wind tactics, steering and trimming kept the crew busy. The team reached Kiel after sailing for two days. Overhauling the boat was started immediately as well recovering from the days at sea.

At the North Sea
The sail continued to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal. Sailing in the canal enabled the crew to have a rest. Five crew members returned to Finland and one joined the team. The crew then consisted of eight members. After  sunset the boat went ashore in Brusbyttel. The place seemed very quiet in the fall. In the morning another member joined the crew and the team started sailing out the canal towards the final destination, the Netherlands.

At the North Sea the team wanted to get in a strong downwind and they did. The forecasts promised for 12 m/s wind and 18 m/s gusts. According to the meters the wind was actually 21 m/s and the strongest gusts even 25 m/s. Because of the harsh wind and the strong upstream on the Netherlands’ coast the boat could “surf” up and down the waves. The speed of the boat rose up to 27,2 knots which means over 50 km/h. The boat finally landed to Breskens at 6 am and the final recovery could begin. The sail took over a thousand miles and a million heartbeats.

Writer:
Risto Saarni
Captain
Team Tokio II
Ocean Race Ltd