Oceanracing 2001 - Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002

Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002

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Southampton, England, September 25, 2001 - 2200GMT
How Different The Weather Can Be From One Volvo Ocean Race to the Other
After conquering two thirds of the Bay of Biscay the fleet has split in two groups, the leaders headed by illbruck with John Kostecki, Tyco under its master Kevin Shoebridge and Amer Sports One led by veteran Grant Dalton, pursued by Team News Corp, Team SEB, the ladies on Amer Sports Too and the dragons on djuice. Squeezed in the middle is ASSA ABLOY.
Against the predictions, the boats were lifted and can sail a straighter course towards the north-western tip of the Iberian peninsula. They are all longing to get south as quick as possible where the Canary Islands are waiting with the trade winds. Juan Vila, one of the two Navigators aboard illbruck said, that “Chris Bedford, our team meteorologist predicted this weather and I remember thinking, “I hope it is not happening”, but he was right.”
Earlier in the afternoon, Amer Sports One reported that they had ripped a lock for the top halyard out of the mast, which left them with only one top halyard for the rest of this leg.
The weather will go on like this for some more days as the boats head south.

Position Report Day 3, 2155 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 45 16.96N 008 01.00W 06889 196 06.2 186 00000 00.0 22 OCT 01 8
2 TYCO 45 21.40N 008 08.28W 06891 193 09.5 195 00002 -00.3 22 OCT 01 7
3 AONE 45 20.56N 007 53.08W 06895 194 06.9 198 00006 00.2 22 OCT 01 6
4 AART 45 32.56N 008 05.76W 06901 191 07.3 205 00012 00.0 22 OCT 01 5
5 NEWS 45 55.36N 008 37.52W 06910 183 07.6 201 00021 00.0 22 OCT 01 4
6 TSEB 45 46.92N 008 09.20W 06912 190 09.5 175 00023 00.0 22 OCT 01 3
7 ATOO 45 52.16N 007 58.08W 06921 192 05.7 202 00032 -00.5 22 OCT 01 2
8 DJCE 45 58.44N 008 09.92W 06922 182 10.7 ND 00033 -01.0 22 OCT 01 1

PS – Position; DTF – Distance to Finish; CMG – Course made good; SMG – Speed made good; TFHR – 24 hours run; DTL – Distance to leader; DTL-C – Distance to leader change; ETA – Estimated time of arrival; PO – Points; ND – No data

Southampton, England, September 25, 2001 1600 GMT Day 3
Beating, Bouncing and Slamming
With the breeze still building its is down to raw speed and upwind performance as the boats are settled for a long beat towards the Spanish coast. By now they have covered half the Bay of Biscay. What started 6 hours ago with a gentle 13 knot breeze rose to a steady 25 knot, force 6 wind. Boatspeed on a Volvo Ocean 60 climbs up to ten knots with all the ballast, the sails and the crew on the high side.
For the coming hours it will be a drag race as the yacht are sailing the same course with Team News Corp and djuice furthest to the west. The wind already started to go from West-South-West to the South, which will favour the leading three yachts illbruck, Tyco and Amer Sports One. The highest wind speed was reported from Assa Abloy, hitting 26 knots.

Southampton, England, September 25, 2001 1600GMT
The Breeze was Switched on While Bart Was Caught Being a Lazy Slob
All the boats had a tough last night with little wind and drizzling rain. The mood was changing from frustration to excitement depending whether the respective boat was moving or stopping. Compared to the last race, they are all much better off in these conditions with the development of the Code 0 sails, which are in fact large overlapping masthead Genoas, even though they are measured in as Spinnakers.
Illbruck and Tyco got out of their southerly position with the breeze from the south setting in, leaving the rest of the fleet in their wake. Illbruck’s routing move to the south and staying in the inside, developed by illbruck’s navigators Juan Vila and Ian Moore worked out well and it is the first time in this Volvo Ocean Race, that boats could make a break, even if it is a small one.
Mark Rudiger, the navigator of ASSA ABLOY, positioned 4th at the moment explains his hopes and expectations: “Right now, there is quite a complex chess game going on between cat and mouse. We have elected to invest in the west. With the approaching low pressure and associated cold front, we hope to get more lifted pressure sooner than the boats inside and south. They are closer to the mark than us at the moment but we expect to gain bearing over the next 24 hours. As the wind goes more southerly and increases, we will be waiting to see just how far it goes.”
Life on board is becoming a bit unpleasant now as the waves are building and the boats start slamming into them. Some of the sailors are still growing their sea legs, overcoming some assaults of sea sickness when the boats are bouncing and rolling. The demands on the crews are tremendous as they will do what they can to either stretch their lead or take care not to loose touch with the leaders.

Southampton, England, September 25, 2001 10.00GMT
Restart
On the morning of the third day at sea, the Volvo Ocean Race has effectively restarted just off the Bay of Biscay. The new south west breeze has now filled in and the leading yachts, led by Tyco, are now sailing at around 8 knots towards the equator.
Ian Moore, co-Navigator (alongside Juan Vila) on second placed illbruck explained the predicament the crews have been facing over the last day. “The last 24 hours have been very frustrating with the wind ranging between 2-5 knots and the direction all over the place. Now it seems that we all found the wind at the same time because this morning we could see Tyco and Amer Sports One”.
Tyco look in a very safe position, 11 miles to the west of illbruck. They are well positioned to stay with illbruck should she get the break whilst indextaining a loose cover over the back markers (djuice and Team News Corp) should their westerly option pay.
Internet access from the boats (each yacht is allowed to access weather information from ten pre-nominated websites) plus historical weather information compiled before the start will mean the Navigators have a library of information at their disposal.