21.02.2006
Tactics for tropical storm
The remnants of a tropical storm are causing some headaches for the six Volvo Ocean Race crews as they plan their approach to the first ice way point on leg four, approximately 900 miles ahead and to the north. There are some very complex strategy decisions to be made and there is a complicated weather pattern ahead. Already there have been some quite diverging courses which is unusual for this fleet. The decision to be made is immensely intricate and it will be another two days or so before it becomes clear as to which team made the right choices.
Paul Cayard (Pirates of the Caribbean) in fourth place, explains, “Right now we are working our way to the first ice way point and we are going to have some trickiness there which we wouldn’t normally encounter in the southern ocean, because we have to go through a fixed point. There is a big hole in the wind there. There is a cyclone which is hopefully dying slowly, causing a lot of turbulence in the waves and the wind and so we are going to have some very strange winds in the last 12 hours going into that gate. “
At 23.25 GMT yesterday, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) made the decision to take a 43 nautical mile loss and gybe south. They gybed back again at 02.40 GMT this morning and are now the most southerly boat in the fleet, making the best speed and benefiting from bigger breeze.
The tropical storm is making its way south towards the position of the first ice gate, possibly arriving at the same time as the fleet. The options are either to go to the north of it, which would carry the higher risk, or to sail to the south of it, which is what the fleet has decided to do. Sailing to the south of the depression also carries risks. It is possible that the storm may move faster south and the fleet could end up in 40 knots of headwinds in order to reach the ice gate.
The boats furthest north have the shortest distance to the finish in Rio de Janeiro, which puts ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) in the lead. The team is cutting the corner to the ice gate, but is closest to the centre of the depression. The danger in this move is that they may find they run out of wind and need to gybe to get south later which could be very costly.
The drama will be played out over the next 48 hours or so.
LEG FOUR DAY 3, 21.2.06, 1000 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
LAT
LONG
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
SGPTS
PLPTS
PTLPTS
POP
ETA
OVERALL
1
ABN2
50 55.77S
167 29.60W
06056
16.1
411
17.1
00000
+00000
0
7.0
7.0
35.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
2
2
BRA1
51 10.51S
167 55.29W
06073
17.8
442
18.4
00017
+00018
0
6.0
6.0
26.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
4
3
ERIC
51 59.72S
167 52.24W
06076
17.7
423
17.6
00020
+00008
0
5.0
5.0
21.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
6
4
POTC
52 17.59S
167 57.13W
06081
18.1
430
17.9
00025
+00005
0
4.0
4.0
25.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
5
5
ABN1
52 18.34S
167 58.20W
06082
19.5
406
16.9
00026
+00017
0
3.0
3.0
41.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
1
6
MOVI
52 08.05S
168 18.18W
06093
17.1
443
18.5
00037
-00001
0
2.0
2.0
27.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
3
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
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
SGPTS: points scored at scoring gates on this leg to date
PLPTS: projected leg points
PTLPTS: projected total leg points including actual points from scoring gates
PTP: projected overall points including actual points from scoring gates
OVERALL: projected 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
LEG FOUR DAY 3, 21.02.06, 0400 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
LAT
LONG
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
SGPTS
LPTS
TLPTS
RPTD
ETA
OVERALL
1
ABN2
50 14.38S
169 46.78W
06143
17.3
418
17.4
00000
+00016
0
7.0
7.0
35.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
2
2
ERIC
51 20.46S
170 30.99W
06171
18.1
419
17.4
00028
+00014
0
6.0
6.0
22.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
6
3
POTC
51 28.37S
170 34.01W
06173
18.7
421
17.5
00030
+00019
0
5.0
5.0
26.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
4
4
BRA1
50 54.54S
170 43.29W
06178
19.5
436
18.2
00035
+00033
0
4.0
4.0
24.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
5
5
MOVI
51 18.73S
170 43.52W
06179
19.6
440
18.3
00036
+00027
0
3.0
3.0
28.0
10/03/06 __:__:__
3
6
ABN1
51 34.13S
170 53.62W
06186
15.1
395
16.5
00043
-00043
0
2.0
2.0
40.5
10/03/06 __:__:__
1
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
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
SGPTS: points scored at scoring gates on this leg to date
PLPTS: projected leg points
PTLPTS: projected overall leg points including actual points from scoring gates
POP: projected overall points including actual points from scoring gates
OVERALL: projected position in race overall if yacht maintains current position
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