4/12/2014
Ever wonder what happens behind the scenes
during the stopovers of the most exciting races in the world?
Harken’s Tech Team are on the ground working hard to help make it
all happen and we’d like to take you along for the ride!
Follow
us as we track Harken’s team of technical specialists around the world to
various event stopovers to see what really goes on behind the scenes. Gain access
to exclusive videos, write-ups and photos from the team as they work to keep
top sailing athletes and their yachts performing on the water.
Cape Town: November 2014
HARKEN TECH TEAM:Mark Gardner: Volvo
Ocean Race Project Manager
MISSION:Cape Town stopover: hardware servicing for the
7 Volvo Ocean Race Yachts
BACKGROUND
Each Volvo stopover is
divided up into service levels much like a car; depending on how many miles the
yachts have done and how difficult the previous leg is, this will denote the
service level required.
Servicing is split up into
the below three main categories:
Minor: full dismantle and inspection of all winches, re-lubrication
and reassemble
Partial: full dismantle and inspection of all winches. Pawl springs
replaced winch re-lubrication and reassemble. Visual inspection of pedestal and drive system
Full: full dismantle and inspection of winch and pedestal / drive system,
pawls, springs, seals and bushes replaced, system lubricated and reassembled.
The number of Harken technicians varies depending on how much work is required
for the specific stop. For a full service it would take six days for one
technician to service one Volvo 65. We have seven boats and most of the time
only 6-7 days to do the work. This means we need more technicians and we need
to work quickly!
CAPE TOWN
The fleet were delayed into
Cape Town due to a lack of wind, this meant that we had only five days instead
of the predicted seven to carry out the service work required, because of this standby
technicians were called in and we increase our numbers from the original three
to four.
The first boat over the line
was Abu Dhabi on Tuesday afternoon. The yacht was quickly lifted out of the
water onto its cradle and the work could begin!
The first step is to speak to the sailing
crew and shore crew to make sure any problems they had during the leg with
Harken equipment was recorded for investigating.
The second step is for the Harken
technicians to remove all eight winches from the boat
and take them to our workshop within the Volvo boatyard where they are cleaned
and inspected.
Cape Town was a partial service level
so all pawl springs
were replaced.
The winches were then
reassembled and lubricated onboard the boat.
Finally the drive system including three
MX pedestals, four 606 gear boxes and one X- Box were visually inspected and
any work required carried out.
This is then repeated on all
seven boats in preparation for the start of leg 2. There were no major problems
during this stopover and the boats were in very good condition considering!
The temperature was up which
made it more difficult as it was impossible to work on deck in the middle of
the day (you literally couldn’t pick your tools up as they were too hot to
handle). Because of this we ran an early start to the day, working from 7am to
7pm with an hour off at the hottest time of the day. Meaning we had more
time on deck in the cooler hours of the morning.
The boats all went back in
the water on the same day, the forecast was for the wind to increase so Volvo
took their chance to get all the boats back in before it was too windy to do
so. After a day of sail trials there was a bit of fine tuning of the
winch system to be done on the boats but all in all a good job done!
Next stop Abu Dhabi, 13th
– 24th December!
Stay tuned for our next update!
Mark
Gardner: Harken Tech Team Volvo Ocean Race Project Manager
#HARKEN #TECHTEAM
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