Pressemitteilung der illbruck Challenge am 12. Tag der 4. Etappe des Volvo
Ocean Race
7. Februar 2002
Mastbruch der „SEB“ / „illbruck“ weiter vorn
Crew des schwedischen Boots unversehrt / Kap Hoorn-Rundung am Wochenende
Drama auf der schwedischen Yacht „SEB“ beim Volvo Ocean Race: Das Boot
unter Skipper Gunnar Krantz verlor am frühen Donnerstag Morgen auf der
vierten Etappe von Auckland nach Rio de Janeiro den Mast. Er brach bei
Windstärke sieben und einer Bootsgeschwindigkeit von 17 Knoten (30 km/h)
direkt überm Baum ab. Die Crew blieb unverletzt und hat ein Notrigg
gesetzt, um die Fahrt zur Küste bei Kap Hoorn unter Motor fortzusetzen.
Das Rennen wird weiter von der Leverkusener „illbruck“ angeführt, die am
Mittag 38 Seemeilen Vorsprung vor der „Amer Sports One“ (Finnland/Italien)
hatte.
Die Katastrophe passierte gegen halb acht morgens deutscher Zeit, als es
im Southern Ocean noch dunkel war. Der Sturm der vergangenen Tage hatte
zwar schon etwas abgeflaut, dennoch waren die Bedingungen rau. „Es kam
unvermittelt, und wir sind froh, dass das Boot keinen Schaden genommen hat
“, sagte Krantz. Bei Tageslicht wollte die Crew prüfen, ob die
Propellerschraube frei ist und die Maschine starten. Das Festland bei Kap
Hoorn war da noch 1.250 Seemeilen entfernt.
Weniger als 1000 bleiben für die Segler „illbruck“ unter Skipper John
Kostecki, bis sie die sagenumwogende Landspitze im Süden Südamerikas
passieren und den Kurs Richtung Norden nach Brasilien abstecken. Die
Mannschaft segelte vorne bereits in schwächeren Winden als die
nachfolgende Konkurrenz, die dadurch Boden auf das führende deutsche Boot
gutmachte. Zweithärtester Verfolger war die „Tyco“ (Bermuda) 52 Seemeilen
zurück.
Weitere Informationen:
Andreas Kling
Tel: 0172/2578817
akling@illbruck-Challenge.com
http://media.illbruck-Challenge.de
http://www.illbruck.com
Southampton, England, February 7, 2002 Day 12
No room for error in harsh wastelands
To describe the feeling of breaking a mast, 1200 miles from land, deep in
the remotest ocean on the planet is almost impossible. The crew onboard
SEB are numbed but resolute. Hopes and dreams are washed over the side
with the reindexs of the rig as it is cut free to prevent it from punching
a hole in the hull of the boat.
The crew are clearing the decks and making the best of, what is for them,
the most despairing event to have happened in the race so far. But, we
must not forget. The Southern Ocean is not a forgiving place. It is the
most hostile of oceans, where the seas have claimed lives and not just
masts. Carnage is rife in this place and many, many masts have been lost
over the years in pursuit of the glory of winning the world’s premier
ocean race. It was, very simply, SEB’s turn to make the sacrifice to the
Gods of the sea.
Pen Duick VI with Eric Tabarly as skipper began the tradition on the first
leg of the race in1973 – 74, in the middle of the South Atlantic. The
mast was re-stepped in Cape Town and the crew just made it to the start of
leg two. British Soldier then followed suit with a dismasting of the
mizzenmast. After leaving Australia, Tabarly dropped the index mast for a
second time, this time sinking it in the Tasman Sea.
Team SEB doesn’t even hold the record for losing the first carbon mast.
Heath’s Condor in The Whitbread 1977 claimed this privilege –78, while
Peter Blake was onboard as a watch leader. The yacht had a carbon top
fixed to the aluminium bottom section of the mast for reducing weigh
aloft. At this time, there was little or no experience with carbon masts
and the top section behaved like a whiplash and finally broke off the
African coast near Liberia.
The 1981-82 Whitbread saw true carnage with nine yachts losing their
masts. Rolly Go finished under jury rig; La Barca Laboratorio lost her
mast and sailed to Recife in Brazil. 33 Export was able to make it to the
French territory of Kerguelen Island. The yacht was subsequently put
aboard a supply ship direct for Marseilles. Both the Spanish Licor 43 and
European University Belgium were dismasted further along the course and
both made it safely to Tasmania. The latter was only able to use a
spinnaker pole as a jury mast and risked being wrecked in an onshore gale.
A rescue plan was put into operation and European University was finally
towed into Bicheno harbour by a fishing boat. Licor 43 broke her mast for
the second time in a 60-knot gale. Thirteen hundred miles from Auckland,
Gauloises III lost her mast and decided to go north to the tropics and
Tahiti. The final yacht to lose her mast was FCF Challenger, whose mast
broke at deck level between the Azores and England. So far this was the
highest number of rig failures.
Peter Blake again lost the rig again on Ceramco New Zealand. New
Zealand’s prime hope of a race win came to an end, when on September 21,
150 miles north of Ascension Island, under small genoa and a reefed
indexsail, the yacht was dismasted. The port intermediate shroud had parted
and the mast had broken in three pieces. The crew didn’t give up and they
were the 18th boat to finish in Cape Town.
The next race saw the emergence of the modern maxis utilising Kevlar
material for hull and sails, which put much more strain on the mast.
Atlantic Privateer was the first victim and lost the mast in a
southeasterly gale off Cape Town. NZI Enterprise then kept the Kiwi
tradition when breaking the mast in two pieces. It took the crew six hours
to clear up the mess and head back to the Chatham Islands east of New
Zealand.
In 1989 - 90 the figures stayed low. First was Fisher and Paykel under
Grant Dalton to lose the mizzenmast on the way to Punta del Este in
Uruguay. The most spectacular dismasting happened at the restart in
Auckland when The Card’s mizzenmast hooked the masthead of a 28ft cruising
boat and pulled her horizontal, and ripping the mizzenmast out of the boat
within hours of the start. It was salvaged by a third party and later
shipped to Punta. The Card sailed on as a sloop.
On the last leg, Steinlager came as close to disaster as possible. After
winning every leg of the race, the steel chain-plate that held the mizzen
and index masts broke, and only the quick reaction of helmsman Brad
Butterworth, who crash gybed the yacht, saved the masts and the victory of
the red ketch.
The 1993 -94 race saw the emergence of the 60 footers and only one mast
was lost. This time it was the leading yacht, Tokio, who put the mast over
the side of the boat in reaching conditions off Brazil after a convincing
performance over the course of the race under Kiwi skipper Chris Dickson.
By 1997-98, the racing was becoming closer and closer, with every boat
pushing hard to break records and win legs. Gone were the restrictions of
allowing only fractional spinnakers to be flown in the Southern Ocean.
This time, the W60s could carry much more sail, and fly spinnakers from
the top of the mast. The girls, onboard EF Education were the first
victims, damaging their rig badly on the leg from Auckland to Brazil and
having to sail conservatively in order to preserve it. Meanwhile, Lawrie
Smith, pushing Silk Cut to the limit, went too far and the top section of
the mast collapsed whilst spinnaker reaching in 30 knots of breeze at
night. They jury-rigged and raced on for some days before retiring from
the leg some 870 miles from Cape Horn and using their engine motored into
Ushuaia to effect repairs.
The wind gods finally stopped smiling and after nursing their stricken
yacht for nine days, the girls fell victim in 35 knots of wind and lost
the mast between the first and second sets of spreaders. They finally
retired from the leg 34 days after the start of the leg. Skipper
Christine Guillou said, “Everyone onboard is bitterly disappointed. We
gave it our best shot, but we have to be realistic. It is a very bad
feeling to retire. We hope that our fortunes change.”
There are still many miles ahead for the crews in the Volvo Ocean Race and
drama and destruction can lie in wait for any one of them, just around the
corner.
Southampton, England, February 7, 2002 1600 GMT
SEB’s Mast Broke In Broach
SEB is sailing eastwards under jury rig making six knots. “A severe storm
gust coming from a snow quall made us wipe out and in that moment we lost
the rig. Sea conditions were very difficult. Nothing in the rig broke
before the wipe out,” Gurra Krantz reported on the cause of losing the
rig.
In a move to position themselves further to the south for the approach to
Cape Horn, leading yacht illbruck sailed to the southeast, followed by
Amer Sports One and Tyco who made gains in the stronger winds they sailed
in. Due to the wind shift over the last 24 hours, ASSA ABLOY and djuice
could sail a slightly shorter distance, narrowing the gap on illbruck to
under 100 miles. News Corp is still the most northern yacht after their
escape from the ice two days ago. There is a good chance that they come
back into the race for the top places in this leg of the Volvo Ocean Race
during the difficult approach to Cape Horn.
Amer Sports Too was enjoying their Southern Ocean sailing experience as
Lisa McDonald, the yachts skipper wrote: “These waves are phenomenal and
definitely only ever seen in the depths of the Southern Ocean. It's a big
bubbly boiling cauldron amounting to enormous mountains of water that pick
you up and take you for a ride.”
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 1554 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 17.40S 094 58.68W 03158 114 16.0 327 00000 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 59 04.52S 095 50.64W 03184 107 17.1 No Data 00026 -12 18 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 58 58.24S 096 05.08W 03192 105 18.1 346 00034 -18 18 FEB 02 18
4 AART 59 15.00S 097 36.20W 03238 096 17.7 380 00080 -16 19 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 59 13.64S 098 00.12W 03250 097 18.6 390 00092 -24 19 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 57 53.04S 098 14.28W 03264 100 17.9 429 00106 -25 19 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 58 06.76S 105 29.44W 03490 085 05.4 272 00332 +56 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 53.60S 110 15.12W 03628 111 13.4 327 00470 +10 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 7, 2002 1000 GMT
Southern Ocean Claims First Victim
Between 0630 GMT and 0640 GMT this morning, SEB lost her mast after it
broke just above the boom. The crew had to cut the rig free and abandon
it, but they managed to keep the boom which was broken and a spinnaker
boom, also broken. The crew is safe and the boat is not damaged; a jury
rig has been built and it will be improved at later stage.
It all happened in a 28-knot breeze while doing 17 knots of boat speed,
approximately 1250 miles from Cape Horn at approximately 58.12S 106.47W.
In a first message from the boat, skipper Gurra Krantz wrote: “We will
await day light to be able to check that nothing is caught on the prop and
then start the engine.”
Speaking from Sweden, Pelle Norberg, Managing Director for the syndicate
company within Team SEB said: “This is of course a very sad situation for
us, but the most important thing in a situation like this one is that the
crew and boat are safe.”
The crew now plan to continue sailing under jury-rig to the closest
available port in South America to conduct repairs.
SEB, racing on the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race is presently in the
Southern Ocean, en route for Cape Horn on the southern tip of South
America, is currently in sixth position overall in the race.
The other yachts continue racing. Amer Sports Too is the only yacht west
of SEB and could be diverted in case assistance is needed.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 0958 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 58 39.88S 097 45.40W 03245 099 11.6 367 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 58 33.88S 098 58.88W 03283 085 14.0 396 38 -14 18 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 58 30.24S 099 25.24W 03297 100 13.9 370 52 -15 18 FEB 02 18
4 AART 59 03.52S 100 55.36W 03341 103 17.1 388 96 -36 18 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 59 00.52S 101 34.20W 03361 102 16.7 378 116 -32 18 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 57 34.42S 101 41.84W 03376 111 18.3 428 131 -35 18 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 58 09.72S 106 30.08W 03521 089 09.1 335 276 +16 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 25.36S 112 35.96W 03705 103 12.8 319 460 -9 19 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 7, 2002 0400 GMT
Ice Berg Clear Ahead
Even though the wind went slightly down, it’s still full on for the Volvo
Ocean Race Yachts. djuice had scary moments last night, when they were
shooting with an average of 28 knots straight at an iceberg just eight
miles in front of them. With this speed the distance is covered in less
than 20 minutes. When they had finally dropped the spinnaker, they had to
change course for 35 degrees to avoid the berg.
Another shark was caught, this time with illbruck’s rudder. They had to
drop the spinnaker and sail backwards to clear the shark in more than 30
knots of wind. Before they realised that the reason for losing control of
the rudder was the shark, they feared being victim of another rudder
failure.
News Corp’s track in the north is getting better by the hour. They gained
remarkable 38 miles or did a more than six-knot higher average speed than
the race leading yacht illbruck. ASSA ABLOY is back in full racing mode
after the backstay failure earlier on.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 0350 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 58 28.76S 099 59.80W 03315 070 12.6 403 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 58 41.72S 101 42.60W 03367 081 13.9 414 52 -10 18 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 58 14.68S 102 05.36W 03382 066 11.5 405 67 +11 18 FEB 02 18
4 AART 58 39.08S 104 17.40W 03447 074 15.0 397 132 -11 19 FEB 02 20
5 DJCE 58 40.12S 104 47.96W 03463 087 15.0 396 148 -17 19 FEB 02 14
6 NEWS 56 56.36S 104 45.12W 03481 094 18.0 437 166 -38 19 FEB 02 19
7 TSEB 58 10.84S 108 16.12W 03575 064 16.4 394 260 -8 19 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 08.12S 115 02.16W 03784 091 14.2 331 469 -13 20 FEB 02 6
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