Pressemitteilung der illbruck Challenge am 13. Tag der 4. Etappe des Volvo
Ocean Race
8. Februar 2002
26 sm Vorsprung der „illbruck“
Drei Spinnaker zerrissen / „Amer Sports One“ bleibt härtester Verfolger
Nach drei in schweren Schauerböen zerrissenen Spinnakern war der Vorsprung
der Leverkusener „illbruck“ am Freitag auf der vierten Etappe des Volvo
Ocean Race zunächst bis auf 16 Seemeilen geschmolzen, bevor die Crew sich
wieder etwas absetzte. Der härteste Verfolger auch in der Gesamtwertung,
„Amer Sports One“ (Finnland/Italien) kam bis auf 26 Seemeilen heran. Auch
die „Tyco“ (Bermuda) lag am Nachmittag 29 Seemeilen zurück noch gut im
Rennen. Unterdessen hatte die „SEB“ nach ihrem Mastbruch vom Vortag ein
zweites Notrigg gesetzt, und kämpfte sich mit gut acht Knoten Richtung
Südamerika. Während die ersten Boote um den 19. Februar herum im Zielhafen
Rio de Janeiro/Brasilien erwartet werden, haben die Schweden alle Hände
voll zu tun, das Boot und einen Ersatzmast rechtzeitig zum Start der
fünften Etappe, die nach Miami führen wird, zu bringen.
„Ich glaube fest, das Rennen von Auckland nach Rio ist noch völlig offen“,
schrieb „illbruck“-Skipper John Kostecki in einer Email von Bord, „denn
nach Kap Hoorn wird es an der Küste immer leichter, und die Konkurrenz
liegt noch dicht beisammen.“ Auch den Plätzen vier bis sechs folgten „Assa
Abloy“ (Schweden), 58 Seemeilen zurück, vor „News Corp“ (Australien/68)
und „djuice“ (Norwegen/79). Von der legendären Landspitze, die von Sonntag
auf Montag gerundet werden dürfte, sind es noch etwa 2000 Seemeilen bis
ins Ziel. Statt der Schwerwetterbedingungen werden im letzten Teil eher
leichte und drehende Winde erwartet.
Nachfolgend die Email von Bord
Niemand kümmert sich ums verdammte Wetter
Von Skipper John Kostecki
8. Februar 2002, 5.12 Uhr
Unsere schöne Führung wurde heute nach und nach von den nachfolgenden
Booten aufgegessen. Sie haben mehr Wind und hatten eine bessere
Winddrehung, durch die sie aufholen konnten. Darüber hinaus hatten wir
eine schreckliche Nacht. Alles lief wie geplant (den Umständen
entsprechend im Southern Ocean), als wir vorige Nacht von einer Front
überrollt worden, wodurch der Wind für einige Stunden stark abnahm. Wir
wechselten auf einen unser leichteren Spinnaker, als der Wind ganz
plötzlich wieder zulegte. Der Spi riss, bevor wir ihn bergen konnten. Kaum
eine Stunde später, zerrissen wir den nächsten Spinnaker, als wir in einer
Halse aus dem Ruder liefen, weil der Wind schnell auf über 30 Knoten
(Stärke sieben bis acht) zunahm.
Während all das passierte, war Nitro (Noel Drennan), unser
An-Bord-Segelmacher, gerade unter Deck und nähte einen anderen Spinnaker,
den wir in einer Schauerböe von 45 Knoten zuvor bereits zerstört hatten.
Glücklicherweise kamen heute angenehme Vorwindbedingungen (20 bis 30
Knoten), und Nitro und Rosco (Ross Halcrow) konnten zwei der drei
Spinnaker reparieren.
Die Windvorhersage in diesem Teil der Welt ist ausgesprochen schwierig.
Ich glaube, der Grund, warum sich niemand über das verdammte Wetter hier
kümmert, ist einzig und allein der, dass außer uns dummen Seglern hier
niemand herkommt. Außerdem arbeitet unsere Satcom-B-Anlage hier selten,
weil der Winkel zu den Satelliten ungünstig ist (ich glaube, wir sind hier
gerade am 60. Breitengard). Die Kombination dieser beider Faktoren macht
es für uns ausgesprochen schwierig, das Boot auf den schnellsten Kurs zu
bringen und uns günstig zum Rest des Felds zu positionieren.
Der zweite Teil dieser Etappe wird wirklich trickreich, wenn wir aus dem
Southern Ocean heraus Richtung Norden an der südamerikanischen Küste
entlang fahren. Ich glaube sicher, dass alle noch gute Chancen haben,
zumal die Boote nach dieser Southern Ocean-Portion noch ziemlich dicht
zusammen liegen. Wir wollen mal sehen, wie das ausgeht.
Beste Grüße
John Kostecki
Weitere Informationen:
Andreas Kling
Tel: 0172/2578817
akling@illbruck-Challenge.com
http://media.illbruck-Challenge.de
http://www.illbruck.com
Southampton, England, February 8, 2002 Day 13
Trucks, ships and planes for mast delivery
Team SEB’s shore team are currently working round the clock to make sure
that the 28 metre long mast gets to the stricken vessel as soon as
possible. Meanwhile SEB, still racing, is limping her way towards Cape
Horn under a revamped jury rig, which now includes a second ‘mizzen mast’.
Since the upgrade to a second rig, she has been achieving eight knots of
boatspeed!
The shore team’s preparations have included extremely detailed travel
plans for the new mast to get from Gothenburg in Sweden to meet the boat
‘somewhere’ in South America. First, it had to travel to the nearest
major port in Sweden on a specially lengthened truck, where it was loaded
onto a ship bound for Zeebrugge in Belgium. From the container port its
onward travel will again be by truck to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
That is the easy bit. From this point the dilemma for speed of travel is
whether it will be quicker to get the mast to the boat or the boat to the
mast.
The first option to get the mast to the boat, will involve a 747 flight
for the mast to Buenos Aires in Argentina. From there, the only option
is another aeroplane, as trucking in that region of South America is not
possible due to the mountainous terrain and the poor quality of the roads.
This would be the preferred route forward for the sailing and shore
teams, but it could prove difficult to find a large enough plane to
freight the rig, which is still able to land on limited runway space.
The second option to get the boat to the mast, would involve flying the
mast into Rio, the finish port for this leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. A
cargo ship would then be diverted to Ushauaia to pick up the SEB and she
would then arrive into Rio on a ship after a trip of approximately a week.
All is well onboard and SEB and the crew have worked hard in the last 24
hours to make sure that the boat gets to South America as quickly and
efficiently as possible. She is sailing under a twin-masted jury rig,
which has been constructed with the stump from the carbon mast, the
reindexs of the boom and the spinnaker pole. From these impromptu rigs,
the crew have hung the storm jib along with other sails, to try and take
the maximum advantage of the wind available to them.
Gurra Krantz, skipper of SEB wrote in the aftermath of losing the mast,
“Tears were not far away, when the whole thing 'was over', and we had a
little time to reflect. It certainly is a sad day for the project and all
individuals working so hard to do their best. The race for a top spot is
over. We now have to concentrate on getting good results in on the legs
and see how far it takes us. What has put us in this situation? Was it
gear failure? No. Just too much wind at one stage in combination with
really bad waves.”
Of the incident itself, he wrote, “Conditions were as hard as one can only
imagine. Snow storms and winds up to 48 knots in the squalls. Really
freaky waves as always down here. We had a storm chute, small jiffy reef
in the index and a storm jib in the foil, just in case. The gradient wind
varied from 28-32 knots. Conditions change from very hard to severe in
just a few seconds. Pitch black, snow and the power of the wind just
became too much. The spinnaker was rigged with a ‘martin braker’
[emergency release to trigger the shackle that holds the spinnaker at the
spinnaker pole, can be operated from the deck]. We did not even have time
to release the spinnaker with the ‘martin braker’ when the wind shift and
strong gust with snow came in. We went flat on our side the wrong way and
I believe, had the rig not broken, we could have totally submerged the
boat. The big waves came in through the companionway. Remember the knock
down of Amer Sports One. We have two companionways further apart, further
outboard. The rig did not have a failure itself: it was a result of us
being knocked over. We do not know whether hitting the mast in the water
and overloading it, or something else caused the mast to brake. Likely
speed of SEB when hitting the rig in the water was 27 knots the loads on
the rig when smacking it in the water must be enormous.”
“After this giant hand pulled the boat over it was water flooding through
the hatch and then a first bang, which was followed by the sound of
breaking carbon. The hull that was over at 90 degrees stood up as the rig
gave away over the side. The terrible noise of breaking parts and water
moving around inside was left for us. A quick control that everybody was
still onboard and not injured took away the first knot in the stomach. We
then went ahead and tried to get the rig organized and back onboard but it
seemed too dangerous after a while. The splinters of damaged parts of
carbon were everywhere and just waited to cut somebody up. To wait four
hours for daylight was not an option. By then the hull would have been
severely damaged. The waves were doing their best to increase the damages
when the mast tube was crushing on the sheer line. By far the safest
option was to let it go. The mast was broken three feet above the
gooseneck, which didn't leave us much to hoist on. A quick clean up and
the hoist of the trysail ended that part of this tragic event for SEB.”
The crew still have their sense of humour and Gurra summarised that he
felt that they were breaking every rule by sailing a double masted V.O.60,
“We have now constructed a better jury rig and speed through the water is
eight knots. We are actually running a schooner now and probably breaking
every V.O.60 rule there is.”
Southampton, England, February 8, 2002 1600 GMT
SEB’s new mast on route to South America
SEB’s new mast left Sweden at noon GMT today on a ship bound for Zeebrugge
in stage one of a journey, which will involve, aeroplanes, ships and
trucks. At this stage it is not known whether the mast will be flown to
meet the boat in Ushuaia or the boat will meet the mast in Rio. SEB is
still making her way towards Cape Horn, under a twin masted jury rig.
Gurra Krantz, the skipper, wrote, “We are actually running a schooner now
and probably breaking every V.O.60 rule there is!”
Meanwhile, the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet are all heading towards
the north again, with Tyco the only boat still trying to get further
south. Although they are still in the Southern Ocean, conditions are
easier on the crews, and it is giving a chance for boats and equipment to
dry out a little after the extreme weather that they have endured. Wind
conditions are still shifty for the fleet, and News Corp is protecting her
position to the north, with illbruck, Amer Sports One, djuice and ASSA
ABLOY all keeping on fairly similar tracks.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 13, 1558 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 14.24S 085 04.36W 02855 058 12.1 303 0 0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 59 16.28S 085 54.80W 02881 082 11.1 305 26 +2 19 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 60 30.84S 085 24.68W 02884 099 12.4 335 29 0 19 FEB 02 18
4 AART 59 46.76S 086 47.68W 02913 066 11.7 330 58 0 19 FEB 02 20
5 NEWS 58 50.68S 087 23.32W 02923 078 12.3 345 68 -5 19 FEB 02 20
6 DJCE 60 07.72S 087 20.04W 02934 078 10.9 327 79 +4 19 FEB 02 13
7 TSEB 57 01.72S 101 19.04W 03370 048 06.9 149 515 +42 28 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 56 56.08S 102 28.44W 03408 035 13.4 274 553 +35 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 8, 2002 1000 GMT
Assault On illbruck’s Lead
Now that the crew have been able to sort out their situation on-board Team
SEB, skipper, Gurra Krantz has been able to e-mail details about the
conditions at the exact time of the dismasting yesterday. Sailing along in
an average wind speed of 28 - 32 knots they were suddenly hit by a snow
squall of 48 knots. The yacht accelerated, broached violently and hit the
water whilst sailing at 27 knots. What happened next, Gurra described:
“After this giant hand pulled the boat over it was water flooding through
the hatch and then a first bang, which was followed by the sound of
breaking carbon.”
Meanwhile the racing for the rest of the fleet goes on. Behind illbruck,
still in leading position Tyco and Amer Sports One have split for a
northerly and a southerly route. This made a difficult decision for John
Kostecki and his crew. They will have remembered the situation, when
approaching the finish in Auckland, News Corp and Tyco split behind and
Tyco took third place away from illbruck. Kostecki decided to go north
with Amer Sports One and getting closer toward News Corp, who is sailing
in better breeze in the north. ASSA ABLOY and djuice are working southeast
in a shifty breeze but were able to make some miles on the leading yachts.
Amer Sports Too is following SEB’s course and could pass very close after
closing the 56 mile gap that separates them.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 13, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 59 52.64S 087 05.20W 02923 062 12.7 337 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 59 25.40S 088 03.24W 02947 062 11.8 341 24 +6 19 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 60 19.36S 087 53.00W 02952 110 13.6 368 29 +2 19 FEB 02 18
4 AART 60 14.84S 088 55.08W 02981 106 13.5 373 58 -2 19 FEB 02 20
5 NEWS 59 05.84S 089 44.52W 02996 102 13.0 385 73 -3 19 FEB 02 20
6 DJCE 60 21.48S 089 27.64W 02998 103 13.6 375 75 -4 19 FEB 02 13
7 TSEB 57 29.72S 102 16.80W 03396 064 07.3 141 473 +37 28 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 01.96S 103 53.12W 03441 050 12.9 277 518 +23 20 FEB 02 6
Southampton, England, February 8, 2002 0400 GMT
Spare Mast For SEB Flies To South America
SEB has managed to increase her boat speed to an average of 6.5 knots
topping 8 at times, even though the jury rig is made up of the man-high
stump of the mast which was left on the boat, a broken boom and a broken
spinnaker pole. The spare mast, stored in Gothenburg, Sweden, will most
likely be flown to Ushuaia in South Argentina.
News Corp is on the way back up the leader board after overtaking djuice.
Navigator Ross Field expects better conditions for the approach of Cape
Horn on their northerly route. Meanwhile the other yachts go
east-southeast again as the wind comes from the southwest. For the first
time on this leg illbruck is the furthest south. The water temperature,
reported by Tyco has increased to 4 degree C, which should gradually
decrease the risk of ice. The next rounding mark of the race, Cape Horn
lies 730 miles away.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 13, 0358 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 60 28.44S 089 17.88W 02995 109 15.2 346 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 59 58.20S 090 06.08W 03013 104 15.0 361 18 -5 18 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 59 52.28S 090 26.00W 03022 105 14.0 371 27 +1 19 FEB 02 18
4 AART 59 52.76S 091 30.84W 03055 104 14.9 395 60 -5 19 FEB 02 20
5 NEWS 58 49.72S 092 10.68W 03071 107 15.7 413 76 -10 19 FEB 02 20
6 DJCE 60 02.92S 092 06.80W 03074 109 14.4 393 79 +1 19 FEB 02 13
7 TSEB 57 48.92S 103 30.04W 03431 064 06.5 153 436 +51 20 FEB 02 13
8 ATOO 58 51.88S 105 44.84W 03490 066 11.3 293 495 +23 20 FEB 02 6
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