04.01.2006
Heavy Seas Takes Its Toll
After less than 48 hours at sea, the ocean is taking it’s toll as two boats are now retracing their steps to the South African coast. Earlier this morning Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald), in second place at the time, reported a problem with their canting keel system and turned the boat around, heading towards Mossel Bay, 187 miles east of Cape Town. Shortly afterwards, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) reported a structural problem and Grael has also now headed towards the shore. Both boats will be met by their shore teams where the damage will be assessed.
At 0700 GMT, the crew of Brasil 1 discovered a structural problem in the deck of the boat. The crew have slowed the boat down and are now sailing towards South Africa. Brasil 1 suffered the damage while sailing upwind with 15 knots of wind, 300 nautical miles of the south coast of South Africa.
The team are now making emergency repairs to prevent further damage. The objective is to get to South Africa as soon as possible. The shore crew is already in position and waiting for the boat’s arrival when they will analyse the problems and carry out the necessary repairs as efficiently as possible. Only after this analysis will the team make a decision on what to do concerning the second leg.
Project director Alan Adler said: “We received this information early this morning here in Brazil with a bit of disappointment. But the most important thing right now is the crew´s safety. The Volvo Ocean Race is a long competition and this is only beginning. Brasil 1 is returning to South Africa and we are concentrating all our efforts on repairing the boat in the best way possible. Brasil 1 has proved so far that it is an excellent team and capable of conquering the challenge of the Volvo Ocean Race”.
Meanwhile, out on the race track, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) leads from ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) with Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) in third position. The breeze is still on the nose and the sailing is wet and below decks it is very noisy as the boats crash off the waves. Paul Cayard reported that during the night, the Black Pearl was launching off the waves at 11 knots and slamming down hard, making some awful sounds. The team throttled back for a while, a bit shy from their leg one mishap. The sea state has improved significantly this morning.
LEG TWO DAY 3, 4.1.06, 1000 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
Latitude
Longitude
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
ETA
TLPTS
RPTD
RACE POS
1
MOVI
37 57.44S
023 24.37E
05732
10.4
201
08.4
00000
+00000
06/02/06 __:__:__
7.0
13.0
4
2
ABN1
39 39.98S
022 05.68E
05759
10.7
248
10.3
00027
-00008
09/02/06 __:__:__
6.0
21.0
1
3
POTC
39 26.00S
022 06.86E
05762
10.3
235
09.8
00030
-00004
09/02/06 __:__:__
5.0
10.0
6
4
BRA1
39 03.85S
021 58.70E
05774
03.9
208
08.7
00042
-00013
11/02/06 __:__:__
4.0
16.5
2
5
ABN2
39 36.41S
021 43.43E
05777
08.3
234
09.7
00045
-00012
11/02/06 __:__:__
3.0
15.0
3
6
AUS1
39 21.26S
021 36.22E
05786
10.7
229
09.5
00054
-00012
13/02/06 __:__:__
2.0
7.0
7
7
ERIC
36 35.98S
020 50.72E
05875
10.9
059
02.5
00143
-00079
03/03/06 __:__:__
1.0
12.5
5
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
AUS1 ING Real Estate Brunel
BRA1 Brasil 1
ERIC Ericsson Racing Team
MOVI movistar
POTC Pirates of the Caribbean
DTF: Distance to finish, SMG: Speed made good, DTL: distance to leader, DTLC: distance to leader change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll
LPTS: leg points at first scoring gate
TLPTS: total leg points to date inc. scoring gate points if yacht maintains current position
RPTD: Race points to date inc. in-port race points, scoring gate points and leg points the yacht would score if yacht maintains current position.
OVERALL: position in race overall if yacht maintains current position.
Lizzie Green Press Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant at race headquarters
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
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