Pressemitteilung der illbruck Challenge am 16. Tag der 4. Etappe des Volvo
Ocean Race
11. Februar 2002
„illbruck“ führt auch bei den Falklands
Taktische Variante: „Amer Sports One“ und “djuice” segeln außen herum
Falkland Inseln – Der Navigationscomputer läuft auf Hochtouren an Bord der
Leverkusener Hochseeyacht „illbruck“. Er sucht Antwort auf die Frage, „wie
kann die hart erkämpfte Führung auf der vierten Etappe des Volvo Ocean
Race bis ins Ziel nach Rio gehalten werden?“ 46 Seemeilen Vorsprung hatte
die Crew um Skipper John Kostecki am Dienstag Nachmittag vor der „Amer
Sports One“ (Finnland/Italien), nachdem bei den Falkland Inseln die
schwierige taktische Entscheidung bevorstand, außen oder innen um die
Inselgruppe herum zu segeln. Während das deutsche Boot die kürzere Route
höher am Wind innen bevorzugte, fiel der härteste Widersacher auch in der
Gesamtwertung ab, um mit mehr Speed den längeren Weg außen herum
anzutreten.
„Sollen wir frei segeln und schlicht das machen, was wir für das Beste
halten, oder sollen wir mit den Gegnern mitfahren, um sie zu decken?“ John
Kostecki stand vor der Qual der Wahl, und es gab die einzig richtige
Lösung gar nicht. Denn das Feld teilte sich nach der Rundung des Kap
Hoorn. Die drittplazierte „Tyco“ folgte der „illbruck“, die aufgrund des
zwischenzeitlich auf mehr als 70 Seemeilen angewachsenen Vorsprungs die
Strategie der „Amer Sport One“ gar nicht abwarten konnte. Durch den
günstigeren Windeinfallswinkel holte die „Amer“ zunächst stark auf, wird
jedoch den nordnordwestlichen Wind auf der Rückseite der Falklands noch
spitzer zu spüren bekommen. In den nächsten 36 bis 48 Stunden sollte sich
zeigen, wer die Wetterkarten am besten gedeutet hat. Bis nach Rio de
Janeiro waren es noch rund 1.950 Seemeilen. Der Sieger wird etwa am 19.
Februar im Ziel erwartet.
Weitere Informationen:
Andreas Kling
akling@illbruck-Challenge.com
http://media.illbruck-Challenge.de
http://www.illbruck.com
Southampton, England, February 11, 2002 Day 16
Freezer To Sauna
The conditions that the crews of the Volvo Ocean Race have faced on this
leg four from Auckland to Rio de Janeiro have been extreme to say the
least. They started the race in Auckland in hot Summer conditions, went
through the freezer of the Southern Ocean and now having rounded Cape Horn
are on their way to hot and tropical Rio. The extremes of the last week
have taken their toll on the sailors with minor injuries, cuts and
bruises, along with the need to catch up on sleep, before making their way
up the east coast of South America. This second stage to leg 4 will
undoubtedly prove taxing for the teams attempting to keep their boat in
the maximum amount of breeze possible.
The first stage of the leg in the Southern Ocean was all about keeping the
boat in one piece and sailing on the limit, more physically demanding, but
now with the difficult wind patterns the teams are faced with, this will
no doubt prove more mentally taxing. The sailors also have to cope with
the enormous change in air temperatures and weather which they are about
to face, from full thermal suits, gloves and masks in freezing conditions
amongst the icebergs, to the 28 degrees and 94% humidity currently in Rio
de Janeiro.
News Corp found the ride just after Cape Horn the wettest of the leg,
“Rounded Cape Horn in blazing sunshine and 20 kts of downwind sailing
yesterday, but the Southern Ocean was not going to let us off that easily.
The first night it blew 35kts dead on the nose, as we beat our way
between islands in huge swells caused by strong currents. We are wetter
now than we have been the whole trip, after a brief period of sun and
warmth yesterday afternoon. It is good to get the Southern Ocean and all
its ice behind us now.
John Kostecki was very pleased with their breakaway in the favourable
tidal gate at the Estrecho de la Maire, a 20-mile wide channel between the
eastern tip of Argentina and Isla de los Estrados where the current can
run in places at up to eight knots. In spite of this break free from the
fleet, he still believes that it will be a close finish in Rio, “We still
have over 2000 miles to go and the fleet is still close after racing for
4500 miles. This next bit up to Rio will be very difficult tactically. Do
you cover the fleet or do we go with what we think is best? Tough call and
unfortunately the weather is constantly changing in this part of the
world. I think this race is far from over and as usual we will see the
bulk of the fleet finish together in Rio.”
The rest of the fleet were stuck in this channel, so much, that djuice
decided to take a route which passed outside the island, gaining an
amazing 23 miles on ASSA ABLOY, which took djuice into fifth place.
Yesterday, on Amer Sports One, the team of Paul Cayard and Roger Nilson
were about to work extremely hard together on the weather information that
was coming into the boat, “Roger [Nilson] is sleeping right now and I just
finished making a matrix with all the different options, the mileage
associated with each and a routing time for each with the MRF. When Roger
wakes up we will get the latest models and maps and make our final plan
for the day. We run all the information through all the options, twice.
Roger uses a different routing software from me. He uses MaxSea and I use
the Deckman. Although this is a lot of work it is good because we get two
different readouts on the same information. All this will take place in
the next 18 hours.”
Update on Team SEB / Change of plans for the mast and boat
Thursday last week, Ushuaia in Argentina was Team SEB’s first choice for
the rendezvous between the wounded yacht and her replacement mast. During
the weekend Team SEB realized plans had to be changed. There are only two
planes which can transport a 28 metres long mast, and none of them were
available in that area… and it is doubtful either a Boeing 747 or the
Russian Antonov can land on Ushuaia’s runway. Getting the mast to the boat
in Ushuaia (in the Beagle Canal) is just not possible, so Team SEB has
chosen to take the boat to the mast instead. SEB has been rerouted and is
now heading for Punta Arenas in Chile. She is still racing.
On Saturday, a cargo vessel called “BBC Anglia” was booked and sailed from
Callao in Brazil to meet SEB at Punta Arenas. BBC Anglia is estimated to
arrive on February 15th, and SEB is estimated to arrive on the 16th. To
make a speedy rendezvous for the mast and boat, and making sure there is
plenty of time for repairs and recovery, SEB will be loaded onboard this
vessel and transported to Rio, where the mast will be mounted. The cradle
that is already in Rio, will be demounted and flown down to Punta Arenas.
SEB will not cease racing until she is lifted out of the water or starts
her engine. Until then she is racing and plans might change again
depending on how the race develops during the coming week.
As Punta Arenas is a town inside the Magellan’s Sound, Team SEB’s
navigator Marcel realized they have no charts onboard of that area. Not
surprising, as the normal racecourse is sailing by outside the cape (Horn)
instead of using the inland channel of Magellan’s Sound. The new route
means SEB will not round the legendary Horn, but enter the South America
landmass by waterways on the Chilean west coast side and exit in Argentina
on the eastern coast. In the narrow sound, SEB might need a tugboat to
navigate. Team SEB’s shore manager is looking into that now, while Volvo
Ocean Race headquarters is checking into chart solutions.
The cargo vessel with SEB onboard will arrive in Rio on the 24th/25th of
February.
Southampton, England, February 11, 2002 1000 GMT
Fast work for djuice
djuice has passed ASSA ABLOY gaining 23 miles on her in 6 hours, from
passing outside Isla de los Estrados, where the fleet were stuck early in
adverse current. illbruck is still leading the fleet and covering ASSA
ABLOY, News Corp and Tyco, who all appear to be taking the northerly route
inside the Falkland Islands. djuice and Amer Sports One at this stage
appear to have committed to passing to the south and outside the Falkland
Islands, searching for more wind from a weather system building offshore.
djuice will be looking to build further on her gains of the last six
hours.
John Kostecki was aware that there would be a tactical dilemma for the
navigators to make and asked the question earlier, “This next bit up to
Rio will be very difficult tactically. Do you cover the fleet or do we go
with what we think is best?”
Meanwhile Amer Sports Too is now less than 300 miles from Cape Horn.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 16, 0959 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 52 39.00S 062 58.88W 02002 030 10.0 235 0 0 19 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 54 00.84S 062 36.00W 02063 061 13.5 244 61 -13 19 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 53 41.52S 063 49.56W 02071 033 11.2 245 69 -5 19 FEB 02 18
4 NEWS 53 47.00S 064 22.48W 02087 016 10.3 217 85 +2 19 FEB 02 21
5 DJCE 54 30.56S 062 48.16W 02091 059 13.0 295 89 -12 19 FEB 02 14
6 AART 53 55.12S 064 34.24W 02097 011 09.2 230 95 +11 19 FEB 02 18
7 ATOO 55 56.40S 075 53.52W 02542 075 10.8 295 540 -2 21 FEB 02 7
8 TSEB 55 49.96S 087 58.44W 02947 084 07.5 164 945 +17 28 FEB 02 12
Southampton, England, February 11, 2002 0400 GMT
illbruck’s dreams come true
illbruck is stretching distance away from the fleet towards the Falkland
Islands with the fleet stuck in the Estrecho de Le Maire. This is a 20
mile wide channel between the eastern tip of Argentina and an island Isla
de los Estrados where the current can run from anything between five and
even up to eight knots in places. A big advantage if you can get through
this channel with the tide and it appears that illbruck just managed to
achieve this. Her rivals seem not to have been so fortunate, taking
almost double the length of time to pass through the Estrecho. Paul
Cayard, on Amer Sports One and second boat around Cape Horn anticipated
that this could be the case yesterday, “It looks to me like illbruck is
perfectly positioned to make a big gain down here. Their 60 mile lead
will get them into the Estrecha, with about 16-18 knots wind and just
before the maximum northerly flow. We will arrive 5-6 hours later, with
5-7 knots in the Estrecha and a foul current.”
John Kostecki, was delighted that they had hit this tide gate just right,
“Fortunately we hit this tide gate perfectly and took advantage of a 4-5
knots current boost. We hope our competitors are not so lucky!” It
appears from the ‘pile up’ in the Estrecho that Kostecki’s hopes have come
true. This has left Amer Sports One fighting hard with Tyco for second
place and News Corp and ASSA ABLOY fighting for fourth. Perhaps djuice
might be as fortunate as illbruck, but a tide later.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 16, 0359 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 53 32.12S 063 50.16W 02063 042 07.4 256 0 0 18 FEB 02 29
2 AONE 54 41.48S 064 39.36W 02137 047 06.8 244 74 +6 19 FEB 02 25
3 TYCO 54 37.40S 064 51.56W 02137 033 06.5 263 74 +5 19 FEB 02 18
4 NEWS 54 47.88S 064 53.00W 02146 053 07.9 250 83 -2 19 FEB 02 21
5 AART 54 48.72S 064 52.44W 02147 053 08.1 277 84 -3 19 FEB 02 19
6 DJCE 55 11.56S 064 46.88W 02164 060 10.0 307 101 -10 19 FEB 02 13
7 ATOO 56 13.00S 077 48.00W 02605 082 09.5 322 542 -12 21 FEB 02 7
8 TSEB 55 55.08S 089 19.68W 02991 085 06.5 165 928 +7 28 FEB 02 12
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