Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002 www.VolvoOceanRace.org zurück zur Übersicht Racereport Southampton, England, October 12, 2001 Day 20 Decision Time for Amer Sports Too Two more yachts have rounded the waypoint Fernando de Noronha in this first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001 – 2002. Lying in fourth position, Tyco left the island to their port side at 1734 GMT yesterday, followed by Amer Sports One just one hour later. With flat water and 12 knots of breeze, they found the same conditions as the leading yachts illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and News Corp. In the meantime, all competitors have entered the southern hemisphere. Among the trailing group of three yachts, it was SEB who crossed the equator first at 2222 GMT last night, followed by djuice at 0145 GMT and Amer Sports Too at 0222 GMT. The contest for these places will be as tough as for the lead, as all legs in this Volvo Ocean Race score the same points. Therefore every single point can be decisive for the final result when finishing in Kiel in early June 2002. “Facts are that we have 289 miles to the next boat [Amer Sports One] and 368 to the leader [illbruck] and that is of course a long distance. Have we given up? No, of course not,” wrote SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz from the yacht this morning. Still he admitted that there were times when it was difficult to stay motivated: “Looking back a day or two things were a bit different. After getting locked by an eastern wave, then the northerly positioned doldrums and after that the south repositioned doldrums, we did not have much faith in what we were doing. A lot of proposals came up. Marcel [Van Triest] was going to sell sausages on the beach on Mallorca. Matthew [Humphries] immediately applied for a position at the stand being in charge of mustard and ketchup. Dingo [David Rolfe] looked into becoming a fisherman. Magnus [Woxen] planned to go home and sit in the sauna and Tony [Mutter] thought of being Marcel’s biggest customer on the beach.” As djuice is still sailing with their broken headboard car, they have arranged for a replacement to be handed over at Ferando de Noronha, where shore manager BJ Grimholt has managed to rent a local boat. "They will have to anchor within a mile of land and djuice will tie up alongside sometime around midnight," says Michael Woods, the Race Director of the Volvo Ocean Race. They will then transfer a new headboard car and some spare parts for the satellite communications equipment. For Lisa McDonald and her crew, the situation is more complex. Rather than stopping to attend to an emergency, Amer Sports Too requires new parts for their Satcom B terminal. The original plan was for the parts to be brought out to Amer Sports Too by the Brazilian Navy vessel Gioana [as is permitted under the rules] but this is no longer an option. Though it may be possible for djuice's rendezvous boat to transfer the parts, this would necessitate a deviation from course and loss of time. "Lisa is going to have to make a decision if she wants to come in or not," says Woods. Her decision is not a simple one. The Satcom B is the device used both to send pictures and video off the boat and to receive weather information from the Internet. While McDonald would undoubtedly like to have it working there is no certainty that the crew have the necessary skills to install the required parts and get the system working again. A deviation from course would cost time and distance in what could ultimately prove a close race with both djuice and SEB. In an interview with Amer Sports Too’s navigator, Genevive White did not give away any information on whether they stop at the waypoint, instead saying that “We have had a tough couple of days going through the doldrums. We lost a fair bit to the two boats behind us. We are now very close with them and actually back in a very close race. Going down to the island (and that being a gate), will give us a guide on exactly what distance we are to them. Between the two islands [Fernando de Noronha and Ilha da Trinidade] there is no room for change and once you get past the second island there is such a variety of different courses you can take, we certainly have a race back on our hands.” On their experience with the Doldrums, she concluded: “It was almost like an octopus with its tentacles coming out to grab us. To watch the position skeds, we knew what the other boats were getting but we weren’t getting the breeze where we were unfortunately.” SEB, djuice and Amer Sports Too have yet to pass the first waypoint Fernando de Noronha. As this sprint to the next waypoint is turning into a straight boat speed race, the navigators and meteorologists are starting to invest some time in their tactics for the race back across the Atlantic to South Africa. “We are trying to position ourselves correctly for the race across the south Atlantic into Cape Town. The route could take us down to 41 degrees south but we will make our final decision within the next few days,” explained Team News Corp navigator Ross Field. In the 1997-1998 Whitbread Race, the last section of the course was where leg one [and overall] winner EF Language [navigated by ASSA ABLOY’s Mark Rudiger] made her leg-winning move by splitting from the fleet and diving south into more breeze. Perhaps with the most to gain by possibly making a split over the last few thousand miles could be Grant Dalton. “I think that we can be well satisfied with the way we have gone so far, well satisfied,” said Dalton of his position in the fleet. Amer Sports One is currently looking safe [barring breakage] for at least five points and Dalton maybe willing to gamble for more. One hundred and thirty miles off the coast of Brazil, illbruck have once again found a little extra boat speed when it counts to extend their lead over the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Over the last six hours, John Kostecki’s crew have consistently pushed their Farr Yacht Design just over half a knot faster than ASSA ABLOY in the 15-18 knot southeast breeze. Team Tyco is still a little short on food as Brad Jackson reports: “Food rationing carries on but we have two full days of food starting tomorrow before we go back into saving again, a few of the boys starting to need belts for their shorts so Cape Town’s food establishments should do well from this fleet.” On their 1000-mile stretch to the Isla de Trinidade the yachts will encounter medium reaching conditions, which will test the teams’ sail development programmes and their crews’ sail trimming abilities. Southampton, England, October 12, 2001 2200 GMT Bungee Sailing Team SEB finally passed the island of Fernando de Noronha at 2122 GMT doing 9 knots in a 11 knot south-easterly breeze. Djuice is still 23 miles away and it will take her another two and a half hours to drop anchor to get the replacement headboard car from their onshore manager BJ Grimholt. It is still not announced whether Lisa McDonald, skipper of Amer Sports One will stop to get spare parts for their Satcom B unit or use the chance to slip in front of djuice to add one more point under their belt, at least for the moment. Race leader illbruck is 614 miles north of Trinidade and with the weather forecast of the wind going slightly to the south; they should reach this waypoint in two days time. Because of the wind shift, the sails need sheeting in and the ride will become bumpy and wet. Assa Abloy, News Corp, Tyco and Amer Sports One seem to be connected with a rubber band to illbruck, closing or widening the distance with every sked slightly. Southampton, England, October 12, 2001 1600 GMT Smelling Land Not long to go until Team SEB, currently 58 miles north of the island, spots the first hills of Fernando de Noronha. djuice and Amer Sports Too will have to be slightly more patient as they have 87 and 93 miles to go respectively. illbruck is still pulling away, with ASSA ABLOY keeping their distance and Tyco being the only yacht to gain a mile. In the stable breeze from the east-southeast it is hard to attain any real speed advantage over other boats that are so evenly matched. All the yachts are sailing with their reaching headsails and speed differences can be found through superior sail design. Within the next few hours Amer Sports Too’s skipper Lisa McDonald will have to decide whether she stops at Fernando de Noronha to obtain replacement parts for her Satcom B system. djuice’s shore manager BJ Grimholt is already waiting on the island to hand over a replacement headboard car to his team. Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 20, 1600 GMT PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL ROC ETA PO 1 ILBK 09 23.72S 031 47.68W 03330 167 12.9 293 0 00.0 25 OCT 01 8 2 AART 08 57.48S 031 57.12W 03358 169 12.9 287 28 00.0 25 OCT 01 7 3 NEWS 08 37.28S 032 15.16W 03381 169 12.6 288 51 -00.2 25 OCT 01 6 4 TYCO 08 08.12S 032 04.32W 03407 172 13.4 276 77 00.2 25 OCT 01 5 5 AONE 07 52.60S 032 05.36W 03423 169 12.5 270 93 -00.5 25 OCT 01 4 6 TSEB 02 58.24S 032 05.44W 03722 196 11.4 267 392 -01.5 27 OCT 01 3 7 DJCE 02 27.04S 032 09.84W 03750 190 11.1 256 420 -01.7 27 OCT 01 2 8 ATOO 02 20.48S 032 14.12W 03756 191 11.1 246 426 -01.8 27 OCT 01 1 Southampton, England, October 12th, 2001 10.00hrs GMT A Lesson In Pure Boat Speed by illbruck Should Volvo Ocean Race fleet leaders illbruck (first) and ASSA ABLOY continue to pull away from Team News Corp, Tyco and Amer Sports One at their present rate over this 1000 mile dash to Isle Trinidade, there is a real possibility of three distinct races within this final half of leg one to Cape Town. Over the last six hours, the distance between illbruck and ASSA ABLOY has increased by a further two miles (to 28 miles) while Team News Corp, in third, has fallen back a mile from ASSA ABLOY. Team SEB, in sixth, are 293 miles adrift of Amer Sports One. As this sprint to the next waypoint is turning into a straight boat speed race, the navigators and meteorologists are starting to invest some time in their tactics for the race back across the Atlantic to South Africa. “We are trying to position ourselves correctly for the race across the south Atlantic into Cape Town. The route could take us down to 41 degrees south but we will make our final decision within the next few days,” explained Team News Corp navigator Ross Field. In the 1997-1998 Whitbread Race, the last section of the course was where leg one (and overall) winner EF Language (navigated by ASSA ABLOY’s Mark Rudiger) made her leg-winning move by splitting from the fleet and diving south into more breeze. Perhaps with the most to gain by possibly making a split over the last few thousand miles could be Grant Dalton. “I think that we can be well satisfied with the way we have gone so far, well satisfied,” said Dalton of his position in the fleet. Amer Sports One is currently looking safe (barring breakage) for at least five points and Dalton maybe willing to gamble for more. At the rear of the fleet, djuice intend to rendezvous with their shore crew at Ilha Fernando de Noronha at around midnight tonight (GMT). The Norwegian team will anchor one mile off shore and spare parts to repair their damaged headboard car will be transferred by shore manager ‘BJ’ Grimholt, who has hired a local vessel. Southampton, England, October 12th, 2001 04.00hrs GMT illbruck Pull Away One hundred and thirty miles off the coast of Brazil, illbruck have once again found a little extra boat speed when it counts to extend their lead over the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Over the last six hours, John Kostecki’s crew have consistently pushed their Farr design just over half a knot faster than ASSA ABLOY in the 15-18 knot southeast breeze. Team News Corp and Tyco, third and fourth respectively, have also lost miles when they desperately needed to gain to keep in the same weather systems as the leading two. “We hope to get into the same breeze as the boats in front now and work away on their lead so we are in a position to contend across the South Atlantic. This is obviously harder than it sounds as conditions to Trinidade (the next waypoint) seem straight forward and not a lot of passing lanes at the moment. This would be a good time to have a little boat speed edge,” commented Tyco’s Brad Jackson. As resilient as ever, the three yachts at the back – Team SEB, djuice and Amer Sports Too - continue their private battle for sixth position. “Facts are that we have 289 miles to the next boat (Amer Sports One) and 368 to the leader (illbruck) and that is of course a long distance. Have we given up? No, of course not,” wrote SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz from the yacht this morning. These three have yet to pass the first waypoint of Ilha Fernando de Noronha. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE