Southampton, England, March 18, 2002 Day 10
In Neptune’s Realm
King Neptune is back with the fleet, racing in the Volvo Ocean Race,
after waiting patiently for five months at the equator for the fleet to
return. His patience was rewarded with some fresh sailors who haven’t
crossed the equator on a sailing yacht before as they came onboard on one
of the southern hemisphere legs. No matter where positioned, all the
sailors obeyed ruefully to his call and took the punishment with the
utmost devotion.
Anthony Nossiter of djuice had to face the strongest charges, firstly he
crossed Cape Horn bare of any cloth, and secondly he tried to escape
facing the king by telling lies. The crew revealed the fraud and wrote
from on board: “In Rio, he asked his friend Nico [Celon] on Amer Sports
One, how he could get out of trouble with King Neptune. His good friend
Nico advised him to tell a lie that he had done the Melbourne to Osaka
race earlier, and therefore already had crossed the equator. In the
meantime Nocka thought it was a bit too easy to find out that he hadn't
done the race, so he chose to tell the skipper and others on djuice that
he had done a delivery from Melbourne to Osaka. Very early we on had
suspicions that this was a complete fake story as 99.9% of the deliveries
are done the opposite way, from Osaka to Melbourne, after the race to
Osaka. This was clearly confirmed yesterday by Nocka's nice friend Nico on
Amer Sports One who sent us a mail telling us that we shouldn't believe a
word of what Nocka said about earlier equator crossings!! What a set-up!
What a friend, and how angry did King Neptune get????. Well done Nock!”
Neptune’s helpers tied the poor fellow to the jockey pole and, with a
speech justifying our punishment, the pot of 'crud' was poured all over
his naked body and left to dry. It took him hour to clean up properly.
Freddy Loof on Amer Sports One was not much better off. Neptune doesn’t
usually show any mercy. It doesn’t matter whether someone is a novice
sailor or a multiple Olympic class world champion as in Freddy’s case.
Anthony Merrington of SEB was made sure to remember this day in his life
for the years to come.
Meanwhile, the fleet is still racing hard and has entered the northern
hemisphere trade wind belt and accelerated to exhilarating speeds of up to
20 knots. The close racing between illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and Tyco we saw
over the last days in the 10-knot boat speed range has been carried
forward to the 20-knot range. The yachts are in full planing conditions on
a northwesterly course with the spinnaker up and 20 to 25 knots of wind
over the starboard quarter.. The boats are searching for the perfect path
in the ever-changing landscape of the four-meter high waves. The bows dig
up the 28 degree C warm water and rush it back, giving the crews a welcome
soaking in the tropical heat. Mark Rudiger expects that not a lot will
change until the boats reach Barbuda as it is straight line reaching. The
speed of the top three yachts is very evenly matched and unless a boat
breaks gear, there will not be many passing lanes open.
SEB, Amer Sports Too, Amer Sports One and News Corp are spread over a line
perpendicular to their course and it is a very open race for all of them
to go for the places four to seven. Djuice has finally sped up as well,
but is trailing the leading yacht illbruck by almost 150 miles.
Gurra Krantz said in an interview that he is relieved that things are
going better for them again. Their speed has improved and they are closing
in on the leading yachts. The reason for this is that they spent some time
tuning the new mast they stepped in Rio and in better positioning. “We
position ourselves better, sometimes it depends just on a few hundred
metres whether you gain or lose”, Gunnar Krantz explained during a
satellite interview. However he doesn’t expect to catch up with the
leading pack on the reaching stretch to Barbuda. He added: “I am not
surprised that it is Amer Sports Too that is putting the pressure on.
They know the boat better every leg and it is time to realise that they
can sail the boat very fast. We are going to do everything we can to beat
them, and I think all of us think the same.”
Knut Frostad sent in an account of frustration after being badly left
behind under a cloud that was sweeping on from behind, hitting them first
and burying them in torrential rain with no wind at all for several hours:
“I hate it! I hate this more than anything in the world! The only thing I
know then, is, that for sure, someone else is moving. For some reason the
wind doesn't come back at all for two very long hours, and when it did
came back it was with only four to five knots as far as we could see and
drizzling rain.
No, no, no. Can't eat, can't drink, can't sleep!!! It's just too
frustrating! Why us? Why now? We should have seen this? With Jean Yves I
run through the last satellite pictures again. The newest one shows a huge
cloud all over the whole fleet. You wouldn't be able to say that we where
the only one parked in there.”
By now, the trade wind is well established all the way to the West Indies
and with the current speed, the leaders should cover the 1300 miles to
Barbuda in less than four days.
Southampton, England, March 18th, 2002 1600 GMT
Barbuda Beckons
The eight-strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet has crossed the equator and the
leading pack is now in the trade wind belt, where an east north easterly
breeze of 18 - 20 knots has allowed them to power reach with masthead
spinnakers, sailing at up to nearly 15 knots. It is now straight line
sailing, with few passing lanes, as the fleet steams towards the island of
Barbuda some 1200 miles away and close to Antigua in the Caribbean, where
they will be met by our camera crew who will capture more images.
Everyone is far happier now that the breeze has filled in, making up a
little for the huge frustrations of the past week when the fleet was
trapped by unpredictable squall clouds. Sailing is much more enjoyable
when you are doing well, and in this incredibly competitive fleet, racing
is again is at its most intense. Leaders illbruck and second placed ASSA
ABLOY are averaging the same speed of 14.6 knots, while Tyco is sailing
fractionally slower. Amer Sports One has overtaken her stablemate Amer
Sports Too during the last six hours and Lisa McDonald’s team are now one
nautical mile behind her.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 1600 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 05 25.56N 045 16.16W 02373 304 14.6 313 000 +0 27 MAR 02 37
2 AART 05 19.96N 045 17.28W 02376 296 14.6 312 003 +00 27 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 05 23.60N 045 02.60W 02385 305 14.0 305 012 +04 27 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 03 59.44N 044 56.60W 02443 318 12.3 292 070 +14 27 MAR 02 17
5 AONE 04 18.84N 043 42.68W 02487 311 12.9 294 114 +07 28 MAR 02 26
6 ATOO 04 00.72N 043 57.04W 02488 322 11.4 284 115 +21 28 MAR 02 10
7 NEWS 04 17.04N 043 21.72W 02505 299 13.5 285 132 +08 28 MAR 02 21
8 DJCE 03 12.36N 043 21.88W 02546 320 10.7 267 173 +24 28 MAR 02 18
Southampton, England, March 18, 2002 1000 GMT
Best Sailing in the World.
The whole fleet has entered the northern hemisphere trade wind belt and
accelerated to exhilarating speeds of up to 20 knots. The close racing
between illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and Tyco we saw over the last days in the
10-knot boat speed range has been carried forward to the 20-knot range.
The yachts are in full planning condition on a northwesterly course with
the kite up and the wind coming over the starboard quarter with 20 to 25
knots. The bows are searching for the perfect path in the ever-changing
landscape of the four meter high waves. The bows dig up the 28 degree C
warm water and rush it back, giving the crews a welcome soaking in the
tropical heat.
SEB, Amer Sports Too, Amer Sports One and News Corp are spread over a line
perpendicular to their course and it is a very open race for all of them
to go for the places four to seven. Djuice has finally sped up as well and
is trailing the leading yacht illbruck by almost 150 miles.
The trade winds are well established all the way to the West Indies and
with the current speed, the leaders should cover the 1300 miles to Barbuda
in less than four days
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 0958 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 04 37.20N 044 03.72W 02460 303 14.3 294 000 +0 27 MAR 02 37
2 AART 04 40.08N 043 56.72W 02463 303 14.4 299 003 +02 27 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 04 36.24N 043 53.96W 02468 307 13.7 293 008 +03 27 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 03 04.36N 044 07.60W 02516 321 11.4 282 056 +18 27 MAR 02 17
5 ATOO 03 07.36N 043 14.84W 02554 321 11.7 283 094 +17 28 MAR 02 11
6 AONE 03 27.08N 042 42.44W 02567 315 12.8 273 107 +09 28 MAR 02 25
7 NEWS 03 38.20N 042 11.24W 02584 314 12.2 255 124 +13 28 MAR 02 21
8 DJCE 02 23.68N 042 40.44W 02609 311 10.5 257 149 +23 28 MAR 02 18
PS – Position; DTF – Distance to Finish; CMG – Course made good; SMG –
Speed made good; TFHR – 24 hours run; DTL – Distance to leader; DTL-C –
Distance to leader change; ETA – Estimated time of arrival; PO –
accumulated Points
Southampton, England, March 18th, 2002 0400 GMT
Remembering Peter
The boats of the Volvo Ocean Race have just come abeam the mouth of the
Amazon river, and it is inevitable that the thoughts of many of the
yachtsmen and women on board will turn to their late lamented friend and
sea brother, Peter Blake. For it was just over three months ago that this
legendary mariner met a brutal and untimely death, when pirates boarded
his yacht in the mouth of the Amazon, and murdered him. Many people the
world over mourned for this colossus of yachting, but none more so than
the sailors on board these pedigree racing yachts. They are tough, hard
men these round the world sailors, but this will not stop them shedding a
quiet tear for their old mate “Blakey”. A great man, a great loss.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 0400 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 03 51.00N 042 51.60W 2545 311 13.2 280 0 +0 27 MAR 02 37
2 AART 03 54.32N 042 47.00W 2546 312 12.9 283 1 +01 27 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 03 47.08N 042 48.52W 2550 308 12.7 278 5 +03 27 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 02 11.88N 043 24.40W 2583 306 13.3 279 38 -01 27 MAR 02 17
5 ATOO 02 13.48N 042 31.28W 2622 321 13.0 274 77 +01 28 MAR 02 11
6 AONE 02 32.96N 041 48.08W 2643 316 12.0 245 98 +09 28 MAR 02 25
7 NEWS 02 47.48N 041 19.48W 2656 312 12.0 241 111 +06 28 MAR 02 21
8 DJCE 01 42.96N 041 52.96W 2671 309 12.5 228 126 +03 28 MAR 02 18
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