06.03.2006
Losses and gains
As the fleet stays tightly together, it could still be anyone’s race. An early lead now could so easily dissolve into a deficit in the light and fluky winds usually found off Rio de Janeiro, not a comforting thought for race leader ABN AMRO ONE and Mike Sanderson as he sits helpless with no wind and watches the fleet closing in on him.
Tonight, there are no losses for the chasing pack, just gains, and quite large ones at that. Sanderson’s speed has dropped to just over 7 knots as the pack hunts him down sailing four knots faster. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) has closed to within 19 miles of ABN AMRO ONE, gaining 28 miles, seemingly attached to ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) by a piece of elastic, who has also gained 26 miles and are now three miles astern of the Pirates.
The biggest gain of all tonight is Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), whose move to east of the warring couple has paid off handsomely with a gain of 39 nautical miles in the last six hours and an average speed of five knots faster than ABN AMRO ONE. The leading Dutch boat is now the furthest yacht to the west, 463 nautical miles from the coast, with Ericsson Racing Team the furthest east, 53 nautical miles east from ABN AMRO ONE.
No one is taking any chances. “We are adopting a pretty conservative strategy,” says Paul Cayard from Pirates of the Caribbean. “We take some risk but only when it is pretty high percentage, but otherwise we don’t shoot the corners. It is keeping us in a good position, but it will be a shoot out right at the end.”
Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is sailing into her home port and this team will settle for nothing less than a podium position at the finish. “For sure there are other ways of getting there [to Rio] which are much easier than the one we have in front of us,” writes watch leader Knut Frostad. “Wish us the best – we need it.” Andrea “Bonchecha” Fonseca adds, “I think that if we make the right calls on the weather from now on, we have a chance to fight for the victory. Conditions now are on our side.”
“I can’t stop thinking about the strategy,” writes navigator Steve Hayles from Ericsson Racing Team, still in fifth position, but also gaining 20 miles. “It keeps me awake when I should be sleeping and I switch off from everything, including the guys around me as I try and make sure that we are doing everything possible to leverage a position where we can make a gain and make it stick.”
Now back in the race, Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has sailed through Le Maire Strait and is now following in the exact track of Brasil 1 and heading to pass east of the Falkland Islands, doing 11.9 knots. She is over 1100 miles from the leader and her estimated arrival in Rio will be three days after the bulk of the fleet.
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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