Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002 zurück zur Übersicht VOLVO OCEAN RACE - Leg 3 - Wochenbericht 1 Southampton, England, January 1st, 2002 Week 1 Twister and Pit Stop for Leg 3 The crews of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet left the dock in Darling Harbour early on Boxing morning, amongst the smoke from the still-burning bush fires, for their start at 0200 GMT for the start of the Sydney to Hobart race. The teams spent a pleasant Christmas Day celebrating with families and friends; some experienced a traditional Australian barbeque by the pool. Others visited friends, but nevertheless they were all minus the snow skiing and a long way from the cold that many of the crews are more used to at this time of the year. The team of ASSA ABLOY, however, had celebrated with a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner and SEB shipped in some real ‘snow’ from the local ice rink, to play a very limited game of snowballs, before the snow melted, to make their Swedish crew feel more at home. On the way to the start, the fleet formed a semi circle in front of the Pyrmont Bridge to pay their respects to Sir Peter Blake by throwing wreaths onto the water in his memory; a man who had meant so much to so many of Volvo Ocean Race competitors as a sailing colleague and friend. The boats then headed out to the start of the 57th Sydney Hobart race and leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race to Auckland. Leg 3 in total is 2,050 nautical miles to Auckland, via the fleet’s short ‘pit-stop’ in Hobart. The boats needed a mixture of tactics, strategy and coastal navigation for the initial stretch to Hobart, before heading on to Auckland and navigators had to allow for the local prevailing conditions and any coastal or current factors, which might give them just that extra edge. Early in the race and still in Sydney Harbour, the wind shifted in direction allowing News Corp to jump free from the rest of the fleet, with illbruck the next boat to break free. At the first turning mark at North head, News Corp was awarded a prize of $10,000 Australian for being the first boat at the buoy, which they were later to announce would be donated to the Australian Bush Fires Appeal. 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 (twister) 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 tornado was to cause more chaos for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet with Amer Sports One also reporting that they had seen the ‘twister’ giving them winds of up to 60 knots and leaving them with a destroyed sail. Many of the crews were unable to eat any meals, partly through the conditions not allowing them to prepare hot food, but also through seasickness, and Amer Sports One continued, “In nasty sea conditions like the last 20+ hours, chances are too big that boiling water jumps out from the pot right into your face or onto some other unprotected part of the body.” djuice were also suffering similar problems, as Knut Frostad, their skipper put it, “Pretty hard to eat these days, so half the dinner is left for the future. It will probably be more popular among the fish in the Tasman Sea.” Earlier djuice had nearly become the first casualty of Leg 3, when two of their bow compartments started to fill with water, after a hatch sprung a leak. The water had even managed to reach the second watertight compartment, which houses some communications equipment. Amer Sports Too ended up under jury rig to Hobart, having suffered a broken forestay in the middle of the Bass Strait, where the crews were still experiencing rough seas. The crew lowered the sails and worked to save the rig, after the eye end of the stay failed at deck level. They later decided to go into Triabunna on the east coast of Tasmania, to pick up spares to repair the forestay. Lisa McDonald was extremely grateful to their shore crew and reported back, “In the wee small hours of the morning Ruff and Will from our shore team (no two names more fitting for the mission) were commandeering a cray fishing boat and two great Aussies named Andy and Rod to help in the mercy run. How do you get a couple of guys to do this instead of catching crays? With the simple words of, “Why don’t you come and meet our friends?” The dash, drop and transfer was successful and we were able to carry on our way to Hobart with a working headstay again, thanks to our crazy and brilliant shore team.” Tyco suffered some problems, but this time over the compulsory reporting for the CYCA (Cruising Yacht Club of Australia) Sydney to Hobart Race at Green Cape. The requirement demanded that each boat should confirm its HF radio was working at the right signal strength, that the required number of life rafts were on board, engine and batteries worked, the boat and its crew were able to continue and that the skipper had comprehensively considered the most current weather forecasts and considered that the boat and crew were fully prepared for the conditions forecast. The V.O.60s were eligible for the line honours prizes in the Sydney Hobart Race, but not for the overall handicap trophies, and this decision from the CYCA Committee would preclude Tyco from winning any prizes in this race. It does not, however, affect her result in the Volvo Ocean Race. SEB was then forced to retire from Leg 3, having lost the use of her rudder 70 miles to the north of Tasmania. The crew fitted the emergency rudder as fast as they could, but still had to take the agonising decision to turn the boat around and head north towards Eden, in Australia, to carry out the necessary repairs. Skipper, Gurra Krantz confirmed this, “What has happened is very sad for us, but most important in a situation of this magnitude is ensuring the crew and the boat are safe. In the prevailing conditions here, we would not venture to carry on racing with an emergency rudder." It was more important for SEB to be ready for the start of Leg 4 from Auckland to Rio de Janeiro, starting on 27th January and the back up support ashore rallied to make the necessary arrangements. "We are now organizing our shore crew to carry out the necessary repairs and getting the boat to full racing shape in good time for leg 4 out of Auckland" said Pelle Norberg, Managing Director for the syndicate company running Team SEB, at the time of the incident. The fleet headed on for the pit stop in Hobart, and Mark Rudiger from ASSA ABLOY wrote back in anticipation of their three and a half hour stopover, “Having finished two Hobart races, it is going to feel strange turning right around and heading out again. I've never raced with a pit stop like this before so it will be interesting to see how it goes. It will be especially strange if it all happens in the middle of the night, which is the way it's looking now. In any case, we're looking forward to briefly seeing one of the prettier places on earth, even if only for a few hours.” For Neal McDonald on ASSA ABLOY and his wife, Lisa on Amer Sports Too, Hobart was to bring very different results. ASSA ABLOY took line honours to win the Sydney to Hobart race over the water, just in front of the Swedish maxi yacht ‘Nicorette’, while Lisa was to finally leave Hobart around 30 hours behind the rest of the fleet. Amer Sports Too had hit a shark when they were sailing down the east coast of Tasmania and skipper, Lisa McDonald confirmed, that they had managed to assess the damage during the pit stop and decided that the rudder would require some emergency repair work before the yacht could finally head for Auckland. To keep within the race schedule, they restarted and then returned to the dock to carry out the work with the back up of their shore team, to ensure that the stop was short and effective. Lisa commented at the time, “You have to take on each situation as it arises. We knew that there was a potential for damage. We had been monitoring it over the last day or two. We haven’t noticed any significant problems at sea to date, but it has also been quite light conditions and so I am not sure I would want to take the boat, and the crew, out in heavy conditions with the rudder as it is. This is for the safety of everyone and the boat.” Meanwhile, victorious on the dock in Hobart, Neal McDonald, skipper of ASSA ABLOY said of the line honours, “Oh, terrific, fantastic. It’s one of THE races I’ve always enjoyed doing and to get over the line first is a real bonus. It was a walk in the park. It was very frustrating and more light wind than heavy. We had one heavy gust with the water spout that we didn’t come out too well on, other than that it was pretty light. As my mum would say, it’s better to be lucky than good. I have to say it was a bit of luck involved in it. Coming into Storm Bay around Tasman Island, we were all bunched together it was light. It was actually quite good fun. At one stage we were first, at one stage we were last, there were place changes every three or four minutes. And later on, it got all light. Chris Larson was steering and took a little risk, went away from some of the guys around us and never looked back.” Illbruck’s skipper, John Kostecki, viewed the situation from a slightly different stance, having led the race most of the way up until Tasman Island, he said “We got caught in a hole with the rest of the fleet. Everyone else got out. This was about 20 miles from the finish. It was a little frustrating seeing everyone sailing away, but that’s yacht racing. The pit stop is a little aggravating; it is a little nerve-wracking for everybody. We’ll see how it goes after three hours. It will be frustrating seeing the others sailing away but we have a long way to go and there is a lot more racecourse to catch up on. The weather is quite variable. When you get to the North Cape, the wind lightens up. We’ve always known there is a lot a competition – that’s never been our problem. This race isn’t over and hopefully we can do better in the rest of the leg.” As the boats left Tasmania, Amer Sports Too was heading for the dock to be lifted out of the water to repair their rudder. The crew immediately got to work with the shore team. They had a tight time deadline, as skipper, Lisa McDonald was anxious that the repairs should be tested in daylight in the Derwent River before the boat headed on out into the Tasman Sea and on for Auckland. The repairs left the crew 368 nautical miles behind the race leader, ASSA ABLOY. Their gratitude to their shore support team was once again very evident, “Our awesome shore team is here and how nice is that, as we all dig deep on this one. I can hear a hive of activity around me, as the slick plans are starting to be put into action. I had better go as the boat is about to be lifted,” wrote Lisa earlier. The leading V.O.60s all restarted after their pit stop in Hobart almost together, with very little time separating the boats, as they made their way down the Derwent River. The crews were pleased to have slightly easier conditions, as they headed out into the Tasman Sea. The News Corp crew could get three comfortable hours’ sleep, rather than one wet and uncomfortable hour and were back to a more normal food routine, “The crew are real tired after the Sydney to Hobart race and as you can imagine, a little stressed. They are grateful that the normal watch system is up and running in which they get three hours sleep (in a sleeping bag) in one go, instead of the one hour (in their wet weather gear) during the race. They are also, to my surprise, enjoying the freeze-dry food, but I am thinking it may be to do with them having to eat three-day old bread rolls during the Hobart leg,” wrote Ross Field. On Amer Sports One Grant Dalton wrote that the crew were also enjoying slightly easier sailing in some sunshine, “Finally the team has been able to get some sleep since leaving Hobart yesterday afternoon. As with all restarts it was full on with a tight beat for the first few hours, a fast wet reach then an unexpected wind swing. But today the sun is out and the sailing is nice and easy for the first time in I cant remember.” Not plain sailing for all the fleet, and Ross Halcrow on illbruck reported a spectacular broach, “The wind went from 25 knots to 35 knots and also lifted about 40 degrees all in about two seconds. We put the bow down and accelerated into left turn. This was what I would call the biggest wipe out of I have ever been apart of. We laid the boat over. The movement was so violent. I was on top of the sail stack trimming the sail at the time, I was thrown off, sending me into a front flip towards the leeward side of the boat (and the ocean), on my way down I hit the indexsheet winch with the backside of my hip bone (fully swollen now, and I am now hobbling around the boat). We blew out the sail, and yes it was a real good blow out, to say the least. I guess that it took us a good 20 minutes to get it all under control, and get going again with another spinnaker up and back on course. We had a blown out spinnaker on our hands, every full-length batten in the index was broken, and a few bruises. Hence today has been a day of repair.” After leaving Hobart, the fleet split in a north south divide, with ASSA ABLOY heading north and djuice becoming the furthest south. This has caused some concern and comment from some of the boats and some discussion between the navigators. Knut Frostad wrote from djuice’s perspective, “After we left Tasmania, we positioned ourselves close to the fleet, but as the southern boat. All our information pointed towards keeping the wind longer in the south, but we have been wrong so far. ASSA ABLOY gaining big time in the north, is a bit worrying…” McDonald from ASSA ABLOY was pleased that they were leading the fleet, but stressed, “We all realise it’s a long leg and an awful lot of changes are going to come. The weather is not looking rosy for any of us; it’s going to be light and variable for all of us as we approach New Zealand. You sail with the wind you are in and it appears we took a different approach to the other guys. Discussion ensued amongst the navigators. To some, it might be perceived as a gamble, to others a tactical gamble or luck and to the rest just good strategy and tactics. As of today, ASSA ABLOY’s early separation from the fleet to the north has begun to pay off well for them and Amer Sports One is in second place, also reaping the benefits of splitting north from the fleet. Mark Rudiger from ASSA ABLOY had some comments to make about the accusation of gambling their way into the lead with a ‘confession’, “After reading the latest article on the Volvo Ocean Race Web site, I realize it is out in the open now...” “Hi, my name is Rudi... and uh...I’m a chronic gambler. I guess I have been in denial for some time but now it is obvious, after our move out of Hobart and previous legs that I must confront the issue head on. Additionally, last night I was busted playing poker on the computer again.” Roger Nilson on Amer Sports One had a succinct view on the outcome, “We are lucky to be in second place and hope we will be able to keep this place across the finish line in Auckland. ASSA ABLOY has sailed a perfect leg from Hobart and will be hard to beat with the expected weather.” On the ‘gamble’ Nilson candidly wrote, “As we felt we did not really know which side was going to pay, why not stay in the middle? As it has turned out so far it was the second best and at the time a fairly safe option. Compare it with buying shares on the stock market from Volvo rather then from a brand new, unknown IT company.” From News Corp’s perspective, Ross Field had a fairly philosophical approach with an eye towards the rest of the race into Auckland, “ASSA ABLOY has gone, a brave and risky move has paid off - good on them. But, yacht racing is a strange game, anything can happen and we definitely haven't given up. It’s really going to be a battle to the finish between Tyco / illbruck and ourselves.” Field continued, “Our index objective at the moment is to secure third place and continue to chase the front two boats.” Navigators and tacticians constantly assess the gains and losses on each leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, and he went on, “We monitor both boats on radar and can work out the boat’s length gains or losses each ten minutes. Right now we've lost 1.5 boat lengths to illbruck in 30 minutes - that is 90 feet and made a gain of four lengths on Tyco - 240 feet. Close racing.” Tyco was also reflecting on the outcome of ASSA ABLOY’s northern route, and having a close battle with illbruck and News Corp in tricky conditions, “A tough day out here in the Tasman Sea with changeable weather and constant pressure from the closeness of the racing. ASSA ABLOY had committed to a move north early in the leg which is paying back nicely for them now and Amer Sports One managed to slip north on the rest of us.” Amer Sports Too joined the race again, after completing their repairs in Hobart. Lisa McDonald wrote, “We are now racing again - approx 30 hours behind the fleet we are watching them battle it out up front and looking over our shoulder at the weather coming across the Tasman Sea.” The Volvo Ocean Race fleet are all making their way east across the Tasman Sea, including SEB who is not racing having retired with a broken rudder, but she will join them in Auckland for the start of leg 4. Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 7, 0956 GMT PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO 1 AART 37 10.76S 166 23.20E 00550 057 12.3 322 0 +0 03 JAN 02 15 2 AONE 37 49.72S 165 28.48E 00606 062 13.6 301 56 -9 03 JAN 02 18 3 ILBK 38 41.16S 164 24.04E 00676 063 14.4 304 126 -13 03 JAN 02 22 4 NEWS 38 44.84S 164 24.64E 00677 063 14.0 303 127 -11 03 JAN 02 17 5 TYCO 38 47.12S 164 19.72E 00682 068 14.4 300 132 -11 03 JAN 02 10 6 DJCE 39 38.28S 164 14.12E 00713 054 12.8 291 163 -4 03 JAN 02 10 7 ATOO 39 32.24S 155 56.40E 01059 036 11.2 208 509 +20 06 JAN 02 5 8 TSEB 35 51.64S 162 34.20E Retired - - - - - - - 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 – accumulated Points ILBK illbruck Challenge AONE Amer Sports One ATOO Amer Sports Two AART ASSA ABLOY Racing Team NEWS News Corporation TYCO Team Tyco TSEB Team SEB DJCE djuice dragons Volvo and Volvo Ocean Race Background The Volvo Car Corporation has its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. 27,400 people worldwide are employed by Volvo Cars and in the year 2000, the company's sales increased to 422,100 cars. Volvo is one of the world’s leading suppliers of commercial transport solutions. The group manufactures trucks, buses, and construction equipment, power systems for marine and industrial use, and aircraft engine components. Founded in 1927, Volvo currently has about 79.000 employees, manufacturing operations in 30 countries and a worldwide market and service organisation. The Volvo Ocean Race is run every four years. It starts in Southampton on September 23rd 2001 and finishes in Kiel, Germany, on June 9th 2002. Over a period lasting some nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race will reach a broad audience around the world via modern communication technology. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE