Southampton, England, March 12, 2002 Day 4
In The Land Of Black Clouds
The weather affect the crews in the tropics not less than in the Southern
Ocean. Was it miserable, cold and windy in the Deep South, it is the
opposite now: Hot, humid sometimes dead calm. The giant rain clouds are
the typical feature of the tropics and they are affecting all the fleet.
Occasionally they bring wind, but more often they suck all the wind away
leaving the competitors in a hole as happened to News Corp. But there is a
tactic for dealing with them as djuice skipper Knut Frostad describes:
“During the night we’ve been sailing through a few, and they’ve been
shaking the fleet about a little bit, but not too much because it’s quite
clear all the boats around us have the radar running and they are
monitoring the clouds and each time there is a rain cloud coming we have a
similar approach – we try to get in front and get it behind us.”
News Corp, who had forged their way into first place soon after the start
and opened out a 20-mile lead, lost their advantage in a matter of hours
yesterday afternoon. Simply – they ran out of wind. While in the
northward flowing counter current, they enjoyed somewhat higher speeds
over the ground than the rest of the fleet to the east. Now as they slip
from favour and hit a bit of the Brazil Current themselves, their boat
speed has dropped substantially. To compound the problems, Ross Field
today mentioned that they seemed to be hit by every black cloud in the
area. “We seem to be attracting every black cloud there is. We clear one
and then we get hit by another… Unfortunately there is no wind inside
these things so we try and get around the edges,” commented a frustrated
Ross Field, who is still confident that their course to the west of the
rest of the fleet will continue to pay off. This morning their track was
still some 40 miles to the west of the rest of the boats.
Ocean currents are like water streaming from hoses running in a pool of
standing water. The virtual rivers of water create 'meanders' which are
snake-like wanderings that the stream assumes. The currents also create
eddies - huge whirlpool-like circulations that occur as the meanders bud
off and leave circular currents tens or hundreds of miles across.
But the overwhelming feeling on board is of the heat. The Pilotfish data
sent back this morning from on board each yacht shows temperatures down
below in each as being a sticky 29-34 degC. Roger Nilson described
conditions on Amer Sports One: “Sleeping is very, very difficult. Only at
nighttime can you sleep. At the moment it is the coolest time of day and
it is 32deg. At the hottest time yesterday it was 37deg below decks. It
will become more bearable as soon as you come up into the north east
trades”.
“Sailing at night now is very nice, you can wear shorts and there is a
little bit of cool air on deck,” added Frostad. “During the daytime it is
a little bit too hot for my liking.”
For the crews this comes a stark contrast to the conditions they
experienced on the previous leg, but the consensus back from the boats is
most prefer racing in the extreme heat to the extreme cold. This is indexly
because of the stress factor, which although high is much reduced in these
waters where the chance of collision is limited to occasional flotsam and
there are no death defying passages through fields of potentially lethal
icebergs.
Southampton, England, March 12, 2002 2200 GMT
Girls Show Muscles In Light Stuff
Amer Sports Too under her American skipper Lisa McDonald has finally
overtaken djuice after dodging a big black cloud that swallowed djuice and
kept her parked for almost an hour. SEB tried to sail around the cloud
with little success. At the moment Lisa McDonald is looking for a fast
lane to overtake the stable mates on Amer Sports One. Unlike in F1 and
bike car racing, no outside orders are given in sailing. Being just nine
miles behind the leaders after four days of racing is certainly the best
result the girls have had so far.
Amer Sports One is struggling to keep the pace with the leading yachts
from the office of Farr Yacht Design. They will be looking over their
shoulder, as Amer Sports Too is just three miles away and closing.
The sun is heating everything up and Chris Larson of ASSA ABLOY compared
the boat with an oven, saying: “ When I say Pizzeria, I really mean to say
scorching hot brick oven.”
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 2152 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 14 40.40S 036 13.12W 03826 024 11.0 259 0 +0 27 MAR 02 28
2 ILBK 14 40.68S 036 13.64W 03827 024 10.9 259 1 +1 27 MAR 02 36
3 TYCO 14 41.28S 036 13.04W 03827 025 10.8 261 1 +1 27 MAR 02 24
4 AONE 14 45.24S 036 15.56W 03832 023 10.5 256 6 +4 27 MAR 02 27
5 ATOO 14 48.04S 036 20.24W 03835 025 11.0 257 9 +0 27 MAR 02 11
6 NEWS 14 42.36S 037 02.52W 03841 024 10.6 246 15 +2 27 MAR 02 22
7 DJCE 14 55.24S 036 17.16W 03842 025 09.6 246 16 +9 27 MAR 02 19
8 TSEB 15 01.12S 036 19.16W 03848 029 10.9 252 22 +2 27 MAR 02 13
Southampton, England, March 12, 2002 1600 GMT
Share The Lead!
ASSA ABLOY, illbruck and Tyco have been neck and neck for almost four
hours, appearing on the computers at Volvo Ocean Race headquarter as
almost one point on the race management system. This means actually, that
they are racing within less than a quarter of a mile. The racing cannot
get much closer.
At lunchtime, ASSA ABLOY had the experience of illbruck passing through
the lee, less than 400 metres away, after trailing the Swedish yacht for
some time. Sailing to windward and in front is considered a safe cover
over a competitor, obviously not in the tropics where local squalls are
unpredictable.
Amer Sports Too is closing in on djuice and the trailing yacht SEB has
lost another mile on the fleet. Gunnar Krantz reported earlier, that the
crew has problems getting the optimum speed out of the new indexsail they
received in Rio.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 1556 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 TYCO 15 39.92S 036 40.88W 03891 021 10.5 251 0 +0 28 MAR 02 26
2 ILBK 15 40.16S 036 41.24W 03891 020 10.6 251 0 -1 28 MAR 02 36
3 AART 15 40.32S 036 40.92W 03891 020 10.5 250 0 -1 28 MAR 02 26
4 AONE 15 43.00S 036 40.88W 03893 020 10.4 250 2 +0 28 MAR 02 27
5 DJCE 15 46.84S 036 42.52W 03898 022 09.9 244 7 +4 28 MAR 02 21
6 ATOO 15 47.40S 036 48.76W 03900 017 10.4 248 9 +0 28 MAR 02 10
7 NEWS 15 40.28S 037 28.96W 03904 023 10.4 224 13 +0 28 MAR 02
21
8 TSEB 15 57.92S 036 52.12W 03911 020 09.8 238 20 +4 28 MAR 02 13
Southampton, England, March 12, 2002 1000 GMT
Fast, Accurate and Efficient
Steve Hayles, navigator on Tyco offered the recipe to get in front: “…fast
accurate sailing and efficient sail changes will be the order of the day.”
Shortly after the crew showed what their navigator meant and moved into
the lead. At the front there is a cluster of five yachts within three
miles, heating up the competition between ASSA ABLOY, illbruck, Amer
Sports One and djuice, all in hot pursuit of Tyco.
Meanwhile SEB has altered her course towards her closest competitor News
Corp, sailing on a westerly track in the hope to move up from last place.
The female crew on Amer Sports Too is highly motivated as they match the
pace of the other yachts and stay in contention.
As most yachts have changed crewmembers since the first leg, the veterans
start thinking how to expose the novices to Neptune’s wrath.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 TYCO 16 38.48S 037 04.24W 03953 017 11.0 244 0 -2 27 MAR 02 26
2 AART 16 39.28S 037 03.80W 03954 019 10.5 242 1 +1 27 MAR 02 27
3 ILBK 16 39.40S 037 03.92W 03954 019 10.6 243 1 +0 27 MAR 02 35
4 AONE 16 41.24S 037 03.44W 03955 018 10.8 243 2 -1 27 MAR 02 27
5 DJCE 16 41.72S 037 05.20W 03956 018 10.7 239 3 -1 27 MAR 02 21
6 ATOO 16 47.00S 037 07.48W 03962 017 10.7 240 9 +0 27 MAR 02 10
7 NEWS 16 37.32S 037 53.92W 03966 021 10.0 205 13 +4 27 MAR 02 21
8 TSEB 16 52.96S 037 13.48W 03969 015 10.8 233 16 -1 27 MAR 02 13
Southampton, England, March 12, 2002 0400 GMT
Bitter Pills For News Corp
News Corp’s lead melted away at an incredible speed over the last few
skeds, leaving the early leader to fight for last place. After the lack of
wind they experienced yesterday, the breeze came back on and they
shouldn’t lose too many miles from now on. The advantage of less current
inshore seems to have vanished as well. Generally the conditions are
similar in the whole area due to a flat pressure distribution.
Illbruck made a remarkable comeback, waiting just one mile astern of ASSA
ABLOY for the chance to make an assault on the Swedish yacht’s lead. Tyco,
Amer Sports One and djuice are within two miles of each other and the
track the yachts are using right now is just 2.5 miles wide.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 0349 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 17 40.16S 037 25.64W 04018 021 11.1 237 0 +0 27 MAR 02 28
2 ILBK 17 40.84S 037 26.16W 04019 021 11.0 237 1 +0 27 MAR 02 36
3 TYCO 17 42.64S 037 24.84W 04020 019 11.2 232 2 -2 27 MAR 02 24
4 AONE 17 44.04S 037 24.88W 04021 022 11.0 235 3 -1 27 MAR 02 27
5 DJCE 17 44.04S 037 26.44W 04022 020 10.8 232 4 +1 27 MAR 02 21
6 ATOO 17 49.56S 037 27.36W 04027 022 10.9 232 9 +0 27 MAR 02 10
7 NEWS 17 34.72S 038 16.64W 04027 026 10.0 201 9 +5 27 MAR 02 21
8 TSEB 17 56.80S 037 31.20W 04035 027 10.6 225 17 +3 27 MAR 02 13
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