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17.02.2002
3.Wochenbericht
Southampton, England, Leg 4, Week 3
Broken rudder for News Corp
The Volvo Ocean Race fleet was setting themselves up for a potentially
windy rounding of Cape Horn. In practice, when it came to it, they had
relatively comfortable sailing conditions, followed by a tidal gate at the
Estrecha de la Maire, a stretch of current between indexland Argentina and
Isla de los Estados, which proved an extremely uncomfortable ride.
illbruck, race leader, was first round Cape Horn on the morning of
February 10, followed by Amer Sports One and then Tyco. News Corp led
ASSA ABLOY, but was sadly to lose her rudder between the Falkland Islands
and Rio de Janeiro.
The fleet then powered on through the Estrecho de la Maire, where they
encountered unfavourable tidal current. illbruck, by this time, had
broken free, leaving the rest of the boats stuck in foul tide. djuice,
however seized the opportunity for a gain and passed to the south of the
Isla de los Estados and also, along with Amer Sports One to the south of
the Falkland Islands.
After tackling Cape Horn, the yachts had to fight against headwinds and
boiling seas. News Corp made a short cut through the Falklands and
reported adventures with breaking seas and that “the seas developed into a
huge washing machine with massive tidal 'overfalls'. After the Falklands
the wind freed continuously, up went the spinnakers and the fleet was once
again sleigh-riding towards the warmer waters of the Brazilian Current.
After early gains, when illbruck’s lead reached 100 miles ahead of the
then second placed Amer Sports One, it started to diminish as the winds
eased off and the fleet played catch up.
At 2030 GMT on February 14, Team News Corp lost her rudder some 1200 miles
out of Rio. At the time the boat was sailing at speeds of up to 22 knots
on a shy spinnaker reach with full indexsail, when all of a sudden the
rudder sheered off below the hull. There was no further damage, other
than a blown out spinnaker. Fortunately, there were no injuries to the
crew.
After retrieving the shredded spinnaker, the crew started rigging the
emergency rudder and got the yacht sailing again. When trimmed properly,
even with reduced sail area, the yacht was making an average of ten knots,
making it hard for Amer Sports Too to overtake her before the finish in
Rio.
On the same day, SEB arrived at the South American coast and motored
through the Cockburn Channel into the Magellan Straits. On the morning of
February 15 they finally arrived in Punta Arenas. There the yacht was to
be put on a cargo vessel and shipped to Rio. The new mast, which Team SEB
has had stored in Gothenburg, will be air freighted to meet the boat once
it has arrived in Rio. The sailing crew will fly to Rio.
Valentine’s Day cast its shadow over the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as well.
Emails from the boats were full with wishes and desires. After three weeks
at sea, the Satcom equipment on board is the only way to stay in touch
with families at home.
With just 500 miles to go at the end of this week three, the heat is still
on in the Volvo Ocean Race in more ways than one. Concentration,
analysis and making the right moves, were paramount and the navigators and
tacticians were working overtime, to make sure that they did not let the
rest of the team down. As the boats head north towards Rio de Janeiro
air and water temperatures were improving by the hour. With illbruck’s
lead reduced to a fraction of the 100 mile cushion they had at the
beginning of the week, the chasing yachts Amer Sports One, Tyco, djuice
and ASSA ABLOY have altered their focus, from fighting for second place to
the achievable goal of winning this prestigious leg.
News Corp breaks rudder between Falklands and Rio
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020214_NEWS_loses_rudder.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/news/email/leg_4/20020215_field.html
SEB arrives in Punta Arenas to be shipped to Rio and retires from leg 4
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020215_the_pills.html
The Volvo Ocean Race fleet rounded Cape Horn
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020209_Tales_of_CH.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020210_Decisions.html
The difficult way to Rio
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020212_Riding_bronco.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020216_turning_heat_up.html
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