6. Tag der 5. Etappe des Volvo Ocean Race
14. März 2002
Dreikampf an der Spitze
„Tyco“ vier Seemeilen vor „illbruck“ und „Assa Abloy“ / Doldrums winken
schon
Recife – Schwache und drehende Winde machen den Hochseeseglern auf der
fünften Etappe des Volvo Ocean Race von Rio de Janeiro/Brasilien nach
Miami/USA zu schaffen. Dabei setzte sich das Führungs-Trio mit der „Tyco“
(Bermudas) am Donnerstag Nachmittag vier Seemeilen vor der Leverkusener
„illbruck“ und der „Assa Abloy“ (Schweden) weiter ab. Die „News Corp“
(Australien) lag schon 39 Seemeilen zurück, während die Zweite der
Gesamtwertung, „Amer Sports One“ (Finnland/Italien) auf den letzten Platz
zurückfiel. Es waren vor der Hafenstadt Recife rund 1000 der 4.450
Seemeilen zurückgelegt.
Noch 500 Seemeilen bleiben die Yachten in der südlichen Hemisphäre, dann
queren sie zum zweiten Mal in diesem Rennen den Äquator. „Derzeit sieht
die Passage durch die Kalmengürtel in der Langfristvorhersage nicht so
schlimm aus“, meint illbruck Challenge-Meteorologe Chris Bedford, „es
lauern zwar überall die typischen dicken Gewitterwolken mit Flautenlöchern
drunter. Aber es sollte überall einen passablen Weg dazwischen geben.“
Indes hatten die meisten Boote am Donnerstag bereits eine Winddrehung um
360 Grad hinter sich und waren bei geringen Geschwindigkeiten mit teils
mehrmaligen Segelwechseln in jeder Stunde beschäftigt. Am schlimmsten
erwischte es dabei die „Amer Sports One“, die auch die Frauencrew aus dem
eigenen Team passieren lassen musste.
Für weitere Informationen:
Andreas Kling
0172/2578817
akling@illbruck-Challenge.com
http://media.illbruck-Challenge.de
http://www.illbruck.com
Southampton, England, March 14, 2002 Day 6
Green: Unlucky for some?
A number of countries in the world recognise that the colour Green is unlucky, although some would undoubtedly disagree. Right now, as they wrote back in a crew e-mail recently, SEB would wholeheartedly support the fact that Green is unlucky; up to a point maybe illbruck would too. However, thus far they have managed to convert their misfortune into the luck of the race winner.
Illbruck's misfortune extends back to leg 2 when just out of Cape Town the crew ended up bailing out the forward compartment and losing valuable time. On leg 3 they encountered the tornado just out of Sydney. More recently, their collision with Team SEB just after leaving Rio resulted in some urgent repair work followed by dropping their Code Zero in the water, and a combination of both incidents drove them firmly into last position for a while. Two green boats colliding might be statistically almost impossible, so was there too much green involved?
For SEB, a more disastrous series of events has hit them. On leg 3, while approaching Tasmania during the Sydney to Hobart race, they lost their rudder and had to return to Australia to carry out repairs before delivering the yacht onto Auckland. On leg 4, they dramatically lost their carbon rig in the legendary Southern Ocean and had to limp to Punta Arenas under jury rig, before being carried onto Rio as deck cargo aboard a ship.
So what are the origins of the superstition that Green is unlucky? Many successful racing yachts have been painted British Racing Green around the world, but many fishermen would not even entertain the idea of using green. As a colour it is alleged to represent hope and immortality, but fairies and notorious wood spirits are said to wear green and as the sayings go, it is believed that anyone who wears green could fall under their evil influence.
And what of the other superstitions for sailors, dating back to the age of sail? To keep seafarers safe they wore gold earrings to prevent drowning and tattoos were believed to ward off evil sprits and some diseases. Some animals, such as dogs, rabbits and pigs or even traces of them are said to be unlucky near a ship and their names unlikely ever even to be mentioned on board. Ships' cats however are said to be lucky!
So perhaps for SEB it was one of the departure superstitions that went wrong for them. It's said to be unlucky if friends and family watch the ship sail out of sight and point to it, as it might encourage the evil eye. Perhaps they should have thrown their old shoes in the water as the boat left the dock instead?
//end
Southampton, England, March 14, 2002 2200 GMT
The Rubber Band
Tyco manages to keep the distance on second placed illbruck and ASSA
ABLOY, while those two seem to be glued together for the fourth day in a
row. News Corp has picked up some wind and puts herself right between the
leading and chasing group.
The trailing group is firmly bunched and from the changes of the positions
it looks like a gigantic rubber band is tied around them. When a yacht
manages to get away, the rubber band stretches, but in the same time
starting to pull them all back together. Amer Sports One, who was left
behind this afternoon, managed to come back and overtake Amer Sports Too.
SEB tries to stay in control of the group, while Knut Frostad, djuice’s
skipper suspects that they have already reached the doldrums.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 6, 2154 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 TYCO 07 37.08S 034 13.36W 03401 017 08.5 182 0 +0 27 MAR 02 26
2 ILBK 07 41.44S 034 13.72W 03405 017 08.4 176 4 +0 27 MAR 02 36
3 AART 07 41.92S 034 13.16W 03405 018 08.2 175 4 +0 27 MAR 02 26
4 NEWS 08 14.76S 034 37.20W 03431 015 08.6 159 30 -9 27 MAR 02 24
5 DJCE 08 31.28S 034 14.28W 03451 021 07.8 188 50 +1 27 MAR 02 21
6 TSEB 08 32.20S 034 16.32W 03452 020 07.1 193 51 +5 27 MAR 02 15
7 AONE 08 32.84S 034 18.36W 03452 024 09.0 176 51 -4 27 MAR 02 24
8 ATOO 08 36.96S 034 15.28W 03456 021 06.9 182 55 +5 28 MAR 02 8
Southampton, England, March 14, 2002 1600 GMT
Thunderstorm On Board
"Currently there are eleven very black clouds onboard the fine vessel Amer Sports One and not to forget the one severe thunderstorm in the person of Dalts [Grant Dalton]. This is a red page in grant Dalton's round the world-racing career. A very painful twenty-four hours, first getting dumped by the leaders and then getting overtaken by the boats behind us", wrote a frustrated Roger Nilson about their current situation on the water.
At around midday the breeze went very light for Amer Sports One and Amer Sports Too, SEB and djuice managed to circumnavigate Amer Sports One in the east. SEB even managed to overtake the others and move from last place to fifth on the leader board.
Tyco was the first yacht to pick up some fresh breeze and immediately left ASSA ABLOY and illbruck behind. These two boats had to wait another hour for the breeze, even though just under a mile apart. It is the first time in three days, that these three yachts are more than three miles apart from each other.
North of the fleet is a belt of absolutely clear sky without any cloud cover. They will have to cope with some more slow going, light air sailing.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 6, 1556 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 TYCO 08 25.48S 034 28.08W 03442 023 05.7 189 0 -3 27 MAR 02 26
2 AART 08 28.80S 034 28.16W 03446 027 04.8 185 4 +4 27 MAR 02 27
3 ILBK 08 29.00S 034 28.72W 03446 023 05.2 184 4 +1 27 MAR 02 35
4 NEWS 09 04.20S 034 50.52W 03481 030 03.5 177 39 +8 28 MAR 02 24
5 TSEB 09 12.04S 034 30.68W 03488 018 06.7 189 46 -10 28 MAR 02 16
6 DJCE 09 14.32S 034 30.68W 03491 028 05.7 183 49 -1 28 MAR 02 20
7 ATOO 09 15.60S 034 30.64W 03492 029 06.3 174 50 -5 28 MAR 02 9
8 AONE 09 21.56S 034 39.88W 03497 026 03.6 164 55 +8 28 MAR 02 23
Southampton, England, March 14, 2002 1000 GMT
Alien Space Craft
The heat is rising and the wind is dropping on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race as the eight yachts reach for the equator, now just 540 nautical miles to the north. The yachts are about to cut the corner of Brazil and after passing Punta de Padras, the north-eastern point of South America, the open Atlantic Ocean lies in front of them.
News Corp had to take the heaviest beating, losing 15 miles when the wind went through all 360 degrees and got very light. SEB made gains in the back of the fleet and is back in contact with the yachts in places five to seven. Jon Gunderson, former News Corp crewman and now racing on SEB reported feeling like being on an alien spacecraft in the frenzy of sail changes because of the different deck layout. Amer Sports One, djuice and Amer Sports Too ran out of wind and are desperately searching for a new lane across the tropical waters.
Tyco, ASSA ABLOY and illbruck had slowed down as well and will face light air over the next few days.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 6, 0958 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 08 54.44S 034 41.44W 03470 012 07.0 228 0 +0 27 MAR 02 28
2 TYCO 08 56.88S 034 41.48W 03473 012 06.9 225 3 +1 27 MAR 02 25
3 ILBK 08 57.44S 034 41.16W 03473 012 06.8 226 3 +1 27 MAR 02 35
4 NEWS 09 22.48S 035 01.16W 03501 020 04.4 222 31 +15 27 MAR 02 24
5 AONE 09 40.76S 034 49.40W 03517 013 08.8 198 47 -12 27 MAR 02 26
6 DJCE 09 44.12S 034 46.80W 03520 019 09.3 201 50 -13 27 MAR 02 20
7 ATOO 09 48.24S 034 49.00W 03525 012 10.0 191 55 -17 28 MAR 02 9
8 TSEB 09 49.80S 034 43.40W 03526 013 10.2 207 56 -18 28 MAR 02 13
Southampton, England, March 14, 2002 0400 GMT
ASSA ABLOY Strikes.
ASSA ABLOY has made a slight gain in the last few hours pulling two miles
ahead of her nearest rivals, illbruck and Tyco. For all the crews in the
Volvo Ocean Race nightfall brings a slight respite in the extreme heat and
weather conditions being experienced, with daytime temperatures exceeding
30 degrees as the fleet continues its way north towards the equator.
News Corp is still managing to make gains on the front group (albeit
slowly but surely), whilst the rest of the fleet continues to become more
spread out with the girls on Amer Sports Too suffering the biggest losses
once more. They are currently trying to hold onto seventh position and
stay ahead of SEB in these variable and fickle wind conditions, whilst
djuice is keeping the pressure on and closing the gap between themselves
and Amer Sports One.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 6, 0410 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 09 33.88S 034 50.20W 03510 017 09.2 247 00000 +0 27 MAR 02 28
2 TYCO 09 35.80S 034 50.20W 03512 020 09.3 246 00002 +0 27 MAR 02 25
3 ILBK 09 36.12S 034 49.36W 03512 022 08.9 246 00002 +2 27 MAR 02 35
4 NEWS 09 46.64S 035 10.32W 03526 019 09.8 252 00016 -5 27 MAR 02 24
5 AONE 10 31.92S 035 01.64W 03569 011 08.1 199 00059 +7 27 MAR 02 26
6 DJCE 10 35.00S 035 04.60W 03573 021 08.8 206 00063 +3 27 MAR 02 20
7 ATOO 10 45.12S 035 01.64W 03582 014 07.5 186 00072 +10 27 MAR 02 9
8 TSEB 10 47.56S 034 57.16W 03584 013 08.3 206 00074 +5 28 MAR 02 13
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