11. Tag der 4. Etappe des Volvo Ocean Race
6. Februar 2002
Weltumsegler von Eis und Sturm gepeinigt
Flotte berichtet von schweren Böen und Manöverschäden / „illbruck“ 55 sm
vor „Amer“
Sie haben Frostbeulen an den Fingern und Prellungen am ganzen Körper. Es
stürmt und schneit, und die Boote geigen auf den haushohen Wellen hin und
her. Das Volvo Ocean Race meint es ernst mit dem Weltumseglern. Auf der
vierten Etappe von Auckland nach Rio de Janeiro erleben die acht
Mannschaften zur Zeit die Hölle auf See. Am besten schlägt sich dabei
weiter die Leverkusener „illbruck“, die ihre Führung am Mittwoch Mittag
auf 52 Seemeilen ausgebaut hatte. Neue Zweite ist die „Tyco“ (Bermuda),
nachdem die „Amer Sports One“ nach einem dramatischen Manöver durch zwei
Eisberge hindurch Schäden erlitt und zurückfiel.
„Das ist Russisches Roulett“, meinte „SEB-Skipper Gunnar Krantz, der mit
seiner Crew am weitesten nach Süden unter den 60. Breitengrad gesegelt
war. Ausgezahlt hat sich die Taktik bislang nicht, der ist 194 Seemeilen
hinter der „illbruck“ nur Siebter. Noch waren rund 1.350 Seemeilen bis zum
berüchtigten Kap Hoorn zurückzulegen. Die Rundung wird für das Wochenende
erwartet. Nach den Eismeldungen drehten allerdings die meisten Yachten auf
einen nördlicheren Kurs, um aus der Gefahrenzone heraus zu kommen.
Weitere Informationen:
Andreas Kling
Tel: 0172/2578817
akling@illbruck-Challenge.com
http://media.illbruck-Challenge.de
http://www.illbruck.com
Southampton, England, February 6, 2002 Day 11
Stressed out between bergs
Stress levels are high on the Volvo Ocean Race with high winds and large
seas providing exciting sailing conditions. Add to that icebergs,
growlers, snow and even fog and the stress level on a normal adult will go
through the roof. All of this, and more, is just another day in the
office for the Volvo crews.
Team SEB were so interested in the effects of stress on the human body
that they have been carrying out ongoing research with their crew while
they are sailing around the world. The stress-research project was
initiated by Hans Bäck, an orthopaedic surgeon and Team SEB's crew doctor
when the boat is in port, in association with Lars-Gunnar Gunnarsson, who
is a Reader in Vocational Medicine at the Stressforum Clinic of Vocational
& Environmental Medicine, at Sweden's Örebro University Hospital.
The project has been launched to determine whether the human body is
capable of mobilising stress hormones and energy with the same vigour
throughout the entire nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, or whether
these resources become depleted by fatigue. The project also aims to
determine the extent to which activation of such stress hormones affects
the individual's own perceptions of his health, strength and general
feeling of vitality. The aim of the study is to contribute useful data
about whether - and if so how - extended and considerable stress can
affect an individual's health, and will help identify symptoms of imminent
physical breakdown as a consequence of exhaustion, or some other
stress-related impact on health.
One thing for sure, is that there is a high level of stress flying around
at the moment. Reports of icebergs and growlers are continuous; one boat
News Corp even collided with an iceberg yesterday, causing damage to her
rig.
Gurra Krantz the skipper of SEB, likened the game in the Southern Ocean to
Russian roulette, “I do not know what other people think but passing
growlers at night at boat speed of 20 -25 knots, within a couple of feet
makes me nervous. Three times we have passed a growler, the size of a car,
so close that the white water around it actually touches the hull! Russian
roulette is probably safer than this. We had 21 large icebergs on radar
one night!”
Paul Cayard and the rest of the crew on Amer Sports One must have reached
the highest levels of stress possible when just after a severe broach,
they were faced with two massive icebergs.
He wrote back, “The iceberg and growler count was growing by 10 per hour.
We were sailing with one reef and the smallest spinnaker we have, so we
felt fairly prudent about that. However, while watching the radar and
seeing nothing, we sailed just 100 feet away from a growler that was 10
feet out of water. It was an ominous realization.
As there were only three of us capable of driving in these conditions, we
decided to rotate every two hours. The first term went well with 36 knots
top-speed and black darkness for just the last half hour. When I came up
it was black dark and blowing 30-35 knots. Within 10 minutes of taking
the helm a squall hit us with 40 knots. Very intense in the pitch black
with huge, sloppy waves as you get down here. Then 15 minutes later I got
a blast of 45 knots for three minutes. This was absolutely crazy.
Hanging on until it passed, I told Grant [Dalton] that I could not do my
full two hours of that intensity without serious chance of wiping out. I
should have said that no one could but I did not want to speak for the
others. That was a mistake and not using my experience. So as the next
helmsman prepared to come up I got two more squalls of 45+. Southern
Ocean 45+. With the temperature down here that is 50+ everywhere else. I
managed to hang on to this beast which was hurtling through the pitch
black of night, doing 30+ knots at one moment, running into large objects
at random (waves that I could not see), as we caromed off these waves they
would alter my course up to 15 degrees in a situation where degrees of
course change can throw the whole boat out of balance. On top of all
this, the growlers were still out there, we just did not happen to hit
any. What if we did at 30 knots of boat speed? Maybe News Corp can tell
us. All three of us, Amer Sports One drivers, have strong cases of
tendonitis in our hands now. Three fingers of my left hand are tingling
numb constantly. I have lost 50% of my grip strength in that hand. Yet
on we went. We just wanted to get to daylight and it would all be much
easier. We needed about another hour and a half. An hour and a half after
I grabbed the wheel I was so happy to give it up. I should have said,
let’s slow this bus down, we are in great shape, our house is neat and
dry, no damage, etc. I failed to say that. So did everyone else.
30 minutes into that last driver, onto our side we went. The gyration was
so violent, that downstairs where I was sitting recovering, the engine
box-cover, which doubles as the companionway stairs, simply left its mount
and landed on me. We got up on deck and found the kite was shredded. No
sooner had we gotten the kite down and Roger [Nilson] yells up, two
icebergs ahead, four miles. It was a blessing to have the kite down but
the width of the two bergs forced us to sail between them. This is not
recommended in any book. Needless to say we had a few tense moments there
but we got through it unscathed. We polled out a blast reacher and just
chilled out for a few hours and took the 20-mile hit on the sked.”
The good experiences are providing exhilarating sailing for teams; Amer
Sports Too were again enjoying the exciting surfing, “I could sail here
everyday of my life and not get bored, this is like a gnarly day out
windsurfing, with too big a sail and every so often you get too much air
and think you are going to die, but you hang on and the adrenalin buzz is
fantastic...,” wrote Emma Westmacott.
These exciting conditions are set to continue for the fleet for the
foreseeable future. Team SEB will no doubt be provided with some
excellent data for their stress project research from this leg and all the
crews will have some salty seadog tales to recount in Rio and also for
many years to come.
Paul Cayard berichtet über das Beinahe-Desaster im Sturm
Amer Sports One
59,39.08S 115,54.43W, February 6, 2002 0212 GMT
Completely Irresponsible
The antithesis of Volvo...completely irresponsible. That is how we
behaved last night and so did most of the fleet I imagine.
Our case in point went as follows. With second place in our hands and a
nice gain on the fleet nust having been made being made, the winds
steadily built during the afternoon and backed to the southwest making it
desirable to gybe and sail on starboard tack. As there was 35 knots +, we
did this manoeuvre by taking the spinnaker down, putting in the first
reef, and rehoisting on the other board...careful and safe. By the time we
rehoisted, got all the gear restacked and got the house sorted out and got
dinner made and eaten, we had missed a few watch rotations.
As night approached the winds indextained the 35+knots when actually they
were forecast to moderate. At the same time, the iceberg and growler
count was growing by 10 per hour. We were sailing with one reef and the
smallest spinnaker we have, so we felt fairly prudent about that.
However, while watching the radar and seeing nothing, we sailed just 100
feet away from a growler that was 10 feet out of water. It was an ominous
realization.
As there were only three of us capable of driving in these conditions, we
decided to rotate every two hours. The first term went well with 36 knots
top-speed and black darkness for just the last half hour. When I came up
it was black dark and blowing 30-35knots. Within 10 minutes of taking the
helm a squall hit us with 40 knots. Very intense in the pitch black with
huge, sloppy waves as you get down here. Then 15 minutes later I got a
blast of 45 knots for three minutes. This was absolutely crazy. Hanging
on until it passed, I told Grant [Dalton] that I could not do my full two
hours of that intensity without serious chance of wiping out. I should
have said that no one could but I did not want to speak for the others.
That was a mistake and not using my experience. So as the next helmsman
prepared to come up I got two more squalls of 45+. Southern ocean 45+.
With the temperature down here that is 50+ everywhere else. I managed to
hang on to this beast which was hurtling through the pitch black of night,
doing 30+ knots at one moment, running into large objects at random (waves
that I could not see), as we caromed off these waves they would alter my
course up to 15 degrees in a situation where degrees of course change can
throw the whole boat out of balance. On top of all this, the growlers
were still out there, we just did not happen to hit any. What if we did
at 30 knots of boat speed? Maybe News Corp can tell us. All three of us,
Amer Sports One drivers, have strong cases of tendonitis in our hands now.
Three fingers of my left hand are tingling numb constantly. I have lost
50% of my grip strength in that hand. Yet on we went. We just wanted to
get to daylight and it would all be much easier. We needed about another
hour and a half. An hour and a half after I grabbed the wheel I was so
happy to give it up. I should have said, let’s slow this bus down, we are
in great shape, our house is neat and dry, no damage, etc. I failed to
say that. So did everyone else.
30 minutes into that last driver, onto our side we went. The gyration was
so violent, that downstairs where I was sitting recovering, the engine box
cover, which doubles as the companion way stairs, simply left its mount
and landed on me. We got up on deck and found the kite was shredded. No
sooner had we gotten the kite down and Roger [Nilson] yells up, two
icebergs ahead, four miles. It was a blessing to have the kite down but
the width of the two bergs forced us to sail between them. This is not
recommended in any book. Needless to say we had a few tense moments there
but we got through it unscathed. We polled out a blast reacher and just
chilled out for a few hours and took the 20-mile hit on the sked.
Now we are back on our bike at full capacity, back in the watch system,
house back in order. Are we any wiser? Hard to say. I think we have
made these mistakes before and we made them again last night.
The difficulty is that the further away an experience like that gets from
you, the more your competitive instincts take over your judgement. I
think it is safe to say we wont do that again on this leg.
But one thing we are stuck with is the icebergs. The whole fleet is. We
will not be out of the zone for at least 24 hours.
Staying alert at 5941s 11618w.
Amer Sports One
Pc [Paul Cayard]
Southampton, England, February 6, 2002 2200 GMT
ASSA ABLOY nearly loses mast
ASSA ABLOY just managed to avoid disaster earlier, when a vital part of
the running backstay broke in gale force winds. Fortunately a safety
strop held long enough for the quick-witted helmsman, Guillermo Altadill,
to keep control while the crew reduced sail and carried out immediate
repairs to keep the mast in the boat. “Suddenly there was a huge
unexpected bang… this could have been the end for us,” reported Mark
Rudiger not long after the incident.
At the last position report, Amer Sports One appeared to have lost
considerable distance on the fleet. At the time, she was in a difficult
area of the Southern Ocean changing satellites and lost communication at
1352 GMT. Therefore the sked provided her position at that time.
Thankfully communications were re-established at 1700 GMT. Since then, she
has even closed some distance on illbruck and is now 62 nautical miles
behind.
All the fleet are now above 60 degrees south, with SEB, djuice, ASSA
ABLOY, Tyco and illbruck all taking some distance towards the north.
Amer Sports Too and News Corp are both tracking in an easterly direction,
well to the north of the fleet. djuice covered little distance in the
last hour, and reported that just as they thought they were through the
ice, they found themselves in a field of growlers. They now appear to be
back up to speed.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 11, 2159 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 58 54.80S 102 15.84W 03383 075 17.9 414 0 0 18 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 58 41.64S 104 02.32W 03439 070 17.7 430 56 +5 18 FEB 02 19
3 AONE 58 55.04S 104 16.48W 03445 074 18.2 422 62 -35 18 FEB 02 24
4 AART 59 03.40S 106 58.32W 03526 068 16.4 400 143 +14 19 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 58 44.60S 107 35.08W 03548 073 16.5 403 165 +10 19 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 56 48.64S 108 00.80W 03587 095 18.1 431 204 -6 19 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 58 53.88S 111 01.72W 03651 064 15.7 386 268 +26 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 06.12S 117 40.52W 03865 104 14.7 345 482 +10 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 6, 2002 1600 GMT
illbruck hits 26 knots!
illbruck has hit boat speeds of 20 plus knots regularly since the last
position report, peaking at around 26 knots. The boats are being sailed
extremely hard by the crews, using every wave they can for bursts in speed
in the surfing conditions they are currently experiencing. Life is very
wet and cold and the boats are still dodging in and out of the ice.
News Corp is now around 150 nautical miles to the north of the fleet,
having opted to reindex on a northerly route after repairing the rig
yesterday. Amer Sports One has lost 39 miles to second placed Tyco in
the last six hours.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 11, 1556 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 22.36S 105 39.32W 03483 087 20.2 401 0 0 18 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 59 18.04S 107 19.24W 03534 084 20.2 412 51 -1 18 FEB 02 19
3 AONE 59 36.12S 108 56.28W 03580 085 21.1 388 97 +39 19 FEB 02 24
4 AART 59 40.40S 110 01.96W 03612 077 18.6 389 129 +16 19 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 59 13.76S 110 43.56W 03638 073 16.9 397 155 +31 19 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 56 39.44S 111 17.20W 03693 084 18.7 423 210 +19 19 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 59 35.76S 113 46.44W 03725 060 16.0 381 242 +48 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 57 43.92S 120 25.28W 03955 083 12.1 365 472 +55 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 6, 2002 1000 GMT
Sailors On The Limit
After the shocking experiences the crews had over the last hours, all the
boat heading further north. Gurra Krantz made it clear when he compared
charging with 25 knots through the icy water with Russian Roulette. Paul
Cayard confessed being “completely irresponsible” despite the fact of
knowing better. In the last race he had several sails hanging overboard
after pushing too hard in the Southern Ocean. Several sailors on Amer
Sports One suffer from severe tendonitis due to the hard physical work in
the gruelling conditions. Tyco’s crew has managed to keep the boat on its
feet, but are lacking energy to keep inside organised. They ended up with
sails, food bags and equipment mixed up after carrying out a series of
sail manoeuvres.
Amer Sports Too all female crew praise the sailing experience they have.
Some of the girls are suffering from chilblains due to extended exposure
to cold and wet.
ASSA ABLOY and djuice are getting in a closed fight over place four in the
35-knot breeze from the west.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day XX, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 28.44S 109 37.68W 03602 099 17.1 395 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 59 30.24S 111 21.40W 03654 095 18.6 399 52 -3 19 FEB 02 19
3 AONE 59 43.76S 111 40.04W 03660 094 16.9 366 58 +2 19 FEB 02 24
4 AART 60 04.52S 113 38.20W 03715 085 16.3 385 113 +9 19 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 59 43.36S 113 53.28W 03726 087 18.1 396 124 -3 19 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 56 50.84S 114 36.60W 03793 082 18.8 392 191 +0 19 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 60 23.32S 116 31.96W 03796 079 17.9 374 194 +4 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 57 52.20S 122 39.88W 04019 074 15.6 382 417 +27 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 6, 2002 0400 GMT
Amer Sports One On The Edge
Last night Amer Sports One came close to disaster as they lost control of
their overpowered yacht when charging towards two large icebergs right in
front of them. When the yacht wiped out, they shredded the storm
spinnaker. After rerighting the boat, Roger Nilson navigated them through
a gap between the two bergs. This has given Tyco the opportunity to slip
into second place.
The yachts are still extremely far from land, beyond any outside help.
Cape Horn lies 1450 miles ahead. Paul Cayard reckons, that the iceberg
zone could be passed in 24 hours time.
With strong wind coming up from behind the whole fleet gained some miles
on the leading yacht illbruck. SEB and ASSA ABLOY are still at 60 south in
very cold conditions. News Corp is back in full racing mode and achieved
the highest average over the last six hours. Amer Sports Too is sailing in
35 to 40 knots of winds, the rest in the mid twenties.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 11, 0400 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 12.48S 112 48.52W 03701 073 15.0 399 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 59 21.60S 114 43.20W 03756 082 15.9 407 55 -13 18 FEB 02 19
3 AONE 59 36.92S 114 53.28W 03757 080 15.5 383 56 -8 18 FEB 02 24
4 AART 60 13.16S 116 47.88W 03805 090 15.5 402 104 -14 18 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 59 48.40S 117 21.72W 03828 095 16.2 397 127 -18 19 FEB 02 14
6 TSEB 60 42.48S 119 59.96W 03891 091 15.7 373 190 -14 19 FEB 02 14
7 NEWS 57 06.84S 117 57.12W 03892 078 17.3 376 191 -11 19 FEB 02 18
8 ATOO 58 16.36S 125 23.32W 04091 085 16.5 377 390 -12 19 FEB 02 6
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