Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002 www.VolvoOceanRace.org zurück zur Übersicht Southampton, England, December 26, 2001 Day 1 V.O. 60’s start Leg 3 on Sydney-Hobart Race The crews of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet left the dock in Darling Harbour early this morning, amongst the smoke from the still-burning bush fires, for their start at 0200 GMT. Yesterday the teams had relaxed, some spending their Christmas celebrations with families and friends eating a traditional Australian barbeque by the pool. Others visited friends, but nevertheless minus the snow skiing and a long way from the snow and ice that many of the crew are more used to at this time of the year. The team of ASSA ABLOY, however, celebrated last night with a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner. They gave their last farewells to family and friends and quietly left the harbour under engine to congregate together in a semi circle in front of the Pyrmont Bridge. The crews wished to pay their respects together to Sir Peter Blake by throwing wreaths onto the water in his memory; a man who had meant so much to so many of them as a sailing colleague and friend. The boats then headed out to the start line in the light southwesterly breeze for their start on this 57th Sydney Hobart race and leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race to Auckland. From the starting gun at 1300 local time, they hoisted their Code 0 sails and headed for the first turning mark at North head, before heading further out to sea and on south down the coast of Australia towards Hobart. Leg 3 in total is 2,050 nautical miles to Auckland, via the fleet’s short ‘pit-stop’ in Hobart, where the crews are restricted by sailing instructions from the moment they arrive. They have to communicate with the Race Committee at the line on their arrival and are given a Restart Number, which corresponds to their finishing position on the water. This then gives them the time they may leave the dock again, which is not earlier than one hour and thirty minutes after their official finishing time. In Hobart, they are not allowed to change crew and only allowed to receive specified outside help. Strategy for the first few hours of this leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race is paramount and navigators, tacticians and weather advisors for the teams will have been carefully planning each team’s route for those crucial hours. For the early part and the final part of the Sydney-Hobart, navigators will need coastal preparation and accurate knowledge of the area rather than ocean navigation. Local conditions of wind and current have to be accounted for and settling the crew quickly into the race conditions at the time is also important. Early in the race, the wind shifted from the southwest to the southeast, allowing News Corp to jump free from the rest of the fleet, with illbruck the next boat to break free. After the turning mark at North head, clever strategy from Tyco put her into a position where she was sharing the lead with illbruck having stayed further offshore than the rest of the fleet. This decision took Tyco into the warm water of the south-going East Australian Current, enabling them to sail at a faster angle and keep up higher boat-speeds. Once the wind started to shift to the southeast this favoured them again, where they were able to control the fleet from their safe windward position, leaving just illbruck in front. Weather conditions can prove changeable, and often without prior warning, leaving the crew of the boats to change sails quickly. Ross Field, Navigator on News Corp commented on seeing an amazing waterspout between the boats not long after the start, “Unbelievable sight and nothing like anyone has experienced before. A waterspout - tornado - came thru illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and ourselves giving us wind up to 58 knots. Really scary to see this long vertical round spinning cloud charge towards us with the bottom of it sucking up water. There was nowhere to go. We dropped our indexsail and left up a small headsail and in the meantime broke battens, blocks etc. Better go, I’ll update more later. We have a little on.” The most recent position update reports left illbruck leading with Tyco sailing at almost a knot faster in boat-speed, in second place and News Corp in third. djuice and ASSA ABLOY were positioned slightly behind News Corp and sailing at a similar boat-speed. The entire fleet was spread over only 10 miles, almost all in sight of each other. Sydney, Australia, December 26th, 2001 Volvo Ocean 60s Lead the Way Today, in the early morning coolness, Darling Harbour, Sydney, was a hive of activity as the crews starting leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race made their final preparations and bade their last farewells. It was a more sombre occasion than the usual razzamatazz of restart mornings, a request made by the teams, and heightened when the boats formed a semi-circle in front of the Pyrmont Bridge. The crews stood quietly together and then threw wreathes into the water, in memory of Sir Peter Blake, a man who meant so much to so many of the competitors who are racing today. The skippers then turned their boats towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, and motored towards the start line situated just east of Bradley’s head and north of Shark Island. A southwesterly 6 – 8 knot breeze was blowing straight down the racetrack, the sky hazy with smoke from the still-burning bush fires, the air pungent and heavy with ash. At 1300 local time, the start gun for the 57th Sydney Hobart yacht race and leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race was fired. For the first time in history, both fleets started simultaneously, the boats racing in the Volvo Ocean Race starting 200 metres in front the other 75 yachts which were contesting the CYCA Sydney Hobart. Code Zeros were hoisted as the Volvo fleet drifted towards their start line, where they made a clean start, downwind on port gybe in the dying, shifting, breeze. News Corp, illbruck and Tyco led the fleet away towards the first turning mark set north of South head, approximately 1.5 nautical miles from the starting line, while Amer Sports One and Assa Abloy were stalled behind the line. Ten minutes after the fleet cleared the starting area, the wind filled in from the southeast, the right hand side of the course, setting News Corp free and allowing her to leave the rest of the fleet almost standing, pulling out a 500 metre lead. The wind was now blowing down the harbour, and News Corp changed to a headsail followed quickly by illbruck, SEB and djuice. The rest of the fleet followed as they began to tack down towards The Sydney heads, unfurling their code zero’s for the longer, starboard tacks, and using headsails for the short tack on port. News Corp, skippered by Britain’s Jez Fanstone, and sailing under the burgee of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, led the fleet around the turning mark and out of The heads on this 2,050 leg to Auckland, New Zealand, via a three and a half hour pitstop in Hobart, Tasmania, 630 up the race track. At the turning mark, Norway’s djuice were second, just one minute 15 seconds behind News Corp, followed by illbruck at two minutes 8 seconds, SEB at two minutes 57 seconds, Tyco at four minutes 37 seconds. Amer Sports Too and team mates Amer Sports One arrived at the mark at the same time, five minutes 55 seconds behind the leader, but the crew of Amer Sports Too judged the mark too wide and let Grant Dalton slip inside and sail away. Assa Abloy trailed six minutes 49 seconds behind the leaders, with the CYCA Sydney Hobart maxis were already overtaking the back half of the Volvo fleet as they left The Sydney heads behind them and sailed out into open water. Met Office Weather Forecast for area Sydney to northern Tasmania, covering the period 26/0600 to 27/0600 UTC General Situation: Low pressure will slowly drift eastwards in the Tasman Sea as an anticyclone builds in the Great Australian Bight. Wind: East force 3 or 4 increasing SE force 5 or 6 near Sydney easing NE force 4 later. In the Bass Strait, east force 6 – 7 slowing easing 4 or 5. Seas: Slight to mderate offshore Sydney and long the east coast of Australia. Rough or very rough slowly decaying moderate or rough at the Bass Strait. Further position reports will available at www.volvooceanrace.org.every hour until 0500 GMT, then three-hourly until close to the finish in Hobart. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE