16.05.2006
Big breeze downwind
A fast finish into Portsmouth is what the competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race are looking forward to. And the weather forecasts are indicating that their wish may be granted. Mike Sanderson, skipper of leading boat ABN AMRO ONE says it looks like the fleet will be flying down the Solent on Saturday in 25 plus knots of breeze, which would make a change from the light wind finishes experienced so far. “How cool would it be to come smoking down the Solent with gennakers up,” he says.
But Sanderson is playing it carefully. He has worked hard to build up a lead of 75 nautical miles over Ericsson (Neal McDonald), so that he doesn’t have to push as hard as the other boats in the big downwind breeze yet to come. “I need to keep reminding myself that we don’t have to win, just a good solid finish will do. We have to keep the ultimate goal in mind, and that is to win the Volvo Ocean Race,” says the skipper.
For their younger brethren on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), it has been a tough 24 hours. “I think, in the space of about two skeds [position reports], I aged 20 years as I watched the two boats closest to us completely blow us away in 12 hours,” said a disappointed and frustrated navigator, Simon Fisher. “It is amazing how one small table of figures can stir so much emotion,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s joy and excitement, but yet, at the other end of the scale, it can be extreme frustration, sadness and even anger. I cannot describe the gut-wrenching feeling I had yesterday when I discovered Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) had jumped away from us. It was like every number on every instrument was tormenting me as we wallowed in light winds.” So, once again, the crew of ABN AMRO TWO are putting their best foot forward and going on the assault.
Meanwhile, on second placed Ericsson, life is looking rosy, apart from the fact that their heater doesn’t work and it’s freezing cold onboard. Looking smart in second place, Neal McDonald’s team has worked hard to get there.
“We’re in good shape and setting ourselves up for the rest of the leg,” McDonald said in a radio interview this afternoon. “We are very pleased to be comfortably in second place. We have been improving all along and we have got to know the boat better. We have sailed the first part of this leg very well and we have worked hard at it. We’ve been strategically and tactically right and we have been sailing the boat well,” he said.
Brunel (Matt Humphries) is another contender which is showing some promising performance on this Atlantic leg of the course. “This morning, it has been a mad frenzy, changing from one masthead spinnaker to the other, trying to get more speed from Brunel and learning how to sail her,” said skipper Matt Humphries. Brunel’s new modifications mean she is a very different boat to sail now and Humphries’ team is uncovering new ways to get a little more speed from her minute by minute. “This, after all the work that was done in Mornington, Melbourne, makes us very happy. We are here in a great race, fighting the best offshore sailors in the business and we are honoured to be here,” he concluded.
Leg seven has certainly not been a leg for trans-Atlantic records, unless it is for the fewest miles achieved in five days. Onboard Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), food rationing is being considered as the Pirates only brought food for nine days. Justin Clougher has assured the skipper that the team should have enough diesel for the generator, which means they will be able to keep their instruments working.
A pleasant distraction for all teams has been the sighting of large pods of dolphins as well as the odd whale lifting its tail in the air. The crew on ABN AMRO ONE is still reeling from unfortunately colliding with one on Sunday. “The wildlife has been picking up, which has been fun,” says Mike Sanderson. “We are still shaken up though over having hit the poor whale. It has been amazing how few whales we have seen this time, so really unbelievable that we hit one.”
Neal McDonald, on the other hand, reckons he’s seen more whales in the North Atlantic this time than ever before, but they too also had a near miss. “It’s been nice to see them [the whales] but a little bit scary too. I was steering a couple of days ago and we missed one quite large sperm whale by less than 20 feet.”
This afternoon the position report is showing huge losses to the leader once again. In order to keep in the strong winds, the boats positioned to the north - Ericsson, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO - had to take a loss and gybe south, while Brunel and ABN AMRO ONE were far enough south already to remain in the strong wind band. Ericsson and Brasil 1 have both now gybed north again, while Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO are still making some southing. Movistar continues her struggle in the north, but with much less breeze and the team is now 250 miles adrift.
LEG SEVEN DAY 06, 1600 GMT POSITION REPORT
Leg Position
Yacht
Latitude
Longitude
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTL-C
Projected Leg Points
Total Projected Leg Points
ETA
Projected Overall Race Points
Projected Position Overall
1
ABN1
43 36.03N
045 00.09W
01822
17.2
378
15.8
00000
+00000
7.0
7.0
20/05/06 15:__:__
77.5
1
2
ERIC
42 52.88N
046 26.01W
01897
14.1
329
13.7
00075
-00027
6.0
6.0
20/05/06 19:__:__
40.5
6
3
BRA1
43 46.45N
047 41.06W
01921
15.2
300
12.5
00099
-00011
5.0
5.0
20/05/06 20:__:__
47.0
4
4
POTC
43 02.24N
048 18.72W
01965
14.6
278
11.6
00143
-00022
4.0
4.0
20/05/06 23:__:__
51.5
2
5
ABN2
43 40.67N
049 09.11W
01980
14.2
271
11.3
00158
-00017
3.0
3.0
21/05/06 00:__:__
45.0
5
6
AUS1
43 26.84N
049 30.65W
02000
15.1
265
11.1
00178
-00016
2.0
2.0
21/05/06 01:__:__
4.5
7
7
MOVI
44 11.27N
051 55.70W
02072
13.3
246
10.3
00250
-00028
1.0
1.0
21/05/06 11:__:__
48.0
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
Sacha Oswald, Press Officer in Portsmouth:
Tel: +447816 275 498
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
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Images
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Email: images@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 .
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