11.03.2006
ABN AMRO ONE: Focussed and foot perfect
The team of professionals sailing ABN AMRO ONE, with Mike Sanderson (NZL) in charge, remained focussed and foot perfect throughout the whole of this, the longest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at 6,700 nautical miles.
They drifted across the finish line today in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro at 00:18:23 local time (03:18:23 GMT) after 20 days, one hour, 48 minutes and 3 seconds at sea to claim first place. The team collected 3.5 points for passing the Cape Horn scoring gate first, and seven points for the leg win, bringing their total now to 49 points and putting them solidly at the top of the overall scoreboard.
An ecstatic but tired skipper, Mike Sanderson reached the dock and said:
“It was a really tough leg, but it was amazing, the guys did a fantastic job. It was unbelievable and I’d thank the whole team.
“It was a very stressful leg and the leg that I was most worried about. It was really hard work mentally, but it was exhilarating, it was fast and we reached some great speeds. It was like taking a 49er across the Atlantic, it was really full on and it was just a question of hard you could get away with pushing boat.
Navigator Stan Honey, the man that Sanderson says it is an honour to work with, said,
“This leg is the essence of the race. It takes you half way round the world and past Cape Horn and it is one of the reasons why I am taking part. The other reasons are to sail round the world and to sail with these guys.”
The last stages of this leg have predominantly featured light airs, something for which this Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed yacht is not optimised and it has given Mike Sanderson his fair share of worries as he watched his lead decrease and increase with the fickle and unstable breeze.
Although this team has consistently been at the top of pack for most of this leg, they made a bold tactical decision to take a short term loss to make a long term gain and, late on day two, they gybed to the south of the fleet, losing 43 nautical miles and moving from first place to fifth. This was the day when they also encountered a six foot giant squid which attached itself to their windward rudder but was eventually untangled.
Life was very stressful onboard for the next two days as the tactic of going south rather than opting for a more northerly route with their sister ship ABN AMRO TWO played out. But within 24 hours of making the decision, they moved up into fourth place and reported high speeds and flat water.
By 1000 GMT on day four, ABN AMRO ONE was back in her familiar first position but quickly slipped to third as the fleet split when they headed north to round the two ice gates which kept the fleet the fleet north of iceberg territory.
Day five, 23 February, ended with the black boat in second place just behind movistar but by day six they had grappled their way back into the lead and really didn’t look back from then.
LEG FOUR DAY 21, 11.03.06, 0318 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
SGPTS
PLPTS
PTLPTS
FINISH/ETA
ELAPSED TIME
POP
POSITION OVERALL
1
ABN1
00000
00.0
000
00.0
00000
+00000
3.5
7.0
10.5
11/03/06 03:18:23
020D 01h 48m 3s
49.0
1
2
POTC
00044
09.2
232
09.7
00000
+00065
3
6.0
9.0
11/03/06 08:51:10
30.5
3
3
BRA1
00046
09.7
261
10.9
00002
+00066
2.5
5.0
7.5
11/03/06 09:02:15
27.5
5
4
ABN2
00051
11.4
260
10.9
00007
+00071
2
4.0
6.0
11/03/06 09:33:33
34.0
2
5
ERIC
00121
13.4
260
10.9
00077
+00077
1.5
3.0
4.5
11/03/06 17:18:58
21.0
6
6
MOVI
01027
11.3
315
13.1
00983
+00065
1
2.0
3.0
15/03/06 10:37:43
28.0
4
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
POP: projected overall points including actual points from scoring gates
OVERALL: projected position in race overall if yacht maintains current position
Sacha Oswald, Press Officer in Rio de Janeiro
Tel: + +5521 8266 6906
Email: sacha.oswald@volvooceanrace.org
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
To receive the latest positions and breaking news on your mobile telephone, text “Alert” to 0046 737 494949
Images
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Email: patrick.anderson@volvooceanrace.org
Port accreditation and sign up to the Volvo Ocean Race press information service is available online at https://accreditation.volvooceanrace.org .
The Volvo Ocean Race
- The Volvo Ocean Race is a round the world yacht race featuring nine offshore legs, over 31,250 nautical miles. The 2005-06 features an inshore race at each of the main stopover ports.
- Four teams from the last race measured the media value of their exposure. The results showed an average of US$50 million, which equates to a 200-300% return on their sponsorship investment.
- The Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02 achieved a cumulative audience of over 800 million viewers ranking it among the top international sporting events.
- Further information can be found at www.volvooceanrace.org .
From: ABN AMRO ONE QFB LEG FOUR DAY 20
Sent: 10 March 2006 23:53
With 30 miles to go until our way-point outside the entrance to Rio, I
thought I really should write one last report for this leg, rather then
painstakingly worrying about whether the wind was going to hold and take
us into the Finish. I am still pretty sure it won't, why would it be that
easy when we could have one of those really fun parking lot situations..
Anyway I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the boys on
ABN AMRO 1 and what a fantastic job they have done sailing the boat for
the whole team in this leg.
I was always worried that this leg would be a tricky one for us, we knew
we had compromised the handling of the boat in big breeze down wind so to
make it quicker reaching, so potentially with it being a full on down wind
wild ride to the Horn and then the risk (which turned out to be true) of a
lot of light airs coming up the coast of South America, I really did think
this could be a tough one for us.
During the leg we showed our reaching speed a few times, firstly on the
first night out of Wellington and then in between the two ice gates we
just flew, the boat doing everything against our competitors that we had
hoped for. Then we played the south our way, often losing miles to the
guys behind when we just decided that we had too much to lose by pushing
in a particular condition. What was fun though was just when I am sure
they thought they were all over us in big breeze downwind, we banged out a
143 nm 6 hourly run, that if my records are correct was the fastest 6
hours of the leg.. very cool, almost like question asked of, and then
answered..
But to the guys, all I can say is how very proud I am to be a part of this
whole team.
To Justin Slattery and Jan Dekker on the bow, solid as rocks, always up
for the tricky jobs.
To Bob (Rob Greenhalgh), his driving in big breeze has come such a long
way responsibility wise, it is very cool to watch, we always knew Bob was
going to be fast, but to be a good helmsman in the Southern Ocean is a
whole different story. Obviously if you crash there it's not just a
little swim off the Skiff.
Dave Endean is the life line of this boat, constantly keeping it at 100%
often on top of his watch where his trimming has been great.
Sidney Gavignet and Tony Mutter, both of whom were Watch Captains in the
last race and are very much key helmsman on the team. They both steered
immaculately throughout the whole leg.
Then the two Watch captains, who are such a big part of what we have here,
both Mark Christensen and Brad Jackson had a very big part in playing what
this boat and team is all about. They sailed this leg fast and
responsibly, just what was asked of them, they kept the spirit on deck at
great levels, even when it was pretty miserable out there.
And Finally to Stan the man (Stan Honey), what another immaculate leg Stan
has had. For sure preparation plays such a massive part in doing well in
these legs, and Stan just never ceases to amaze me with how much pre leg
work has been done, and the angles he has researched, it truly is an
honour to work with Stan, and there is no doubt that one of us is going to
come out of this knowing a whole lot more about weather etc... and it
won't be him..
Those of course are the guys onboard, behind the scenes is an amazing
shore team lead by Ben Wright, Tom Touber and Neil Cox, all of the team
having played a very big part in our overall lead to date. One guy
though, who doesn't get spoken about enough in this campaign, is Roy
Heiner. Lets remember that it was his vision that put this whole thing
together and probably made the biggest call of all, the day he picked up
the phone and rang the office of Juan K.
Fingers crossed we can keep some breeze through to the finish, as I have
been writing this it has dropped from 12 knots down to 6!! So it looks
like we are in for a long night.
See you on the next leg
Until then
Cheers
Mike Sanderson
For media information on the Volvo Ocean Race, please contact:
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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