Pressemitteilung der illbruck Challenge am 12. Tag der 5. Etappe des Volvo
Ocean Race
20. März 2002
„illbruck“ fliegt, der große Rest hofft
Nur „Assa Abloy“ und „Tyco“ bleiben dran / Nordostpassat treibt das Feld
nach Miami
Miami – Noch gut 1.800 Seemeilen, rund sechs Tage müssen sie rund um die
Uhr Segeln arbeiten, dann wartet auf die Crews des Volvo Ocean Race das
erste kühle Bier nach zweieinhalb Wochen Hitze auf hoher See. Miami, der
Zielhafen der fünften Etappe der härtesten Hochseeregatta der Welt,
erwartet die Sieger um den 26. März in Florida/USA. Die besten Karten
besaß am Mittwoch weiterhin die Leverkusener „illbruck“ unter Skipper John
Kostecki, der seinem Heimatland mit Vorfreude entgegensieht. Elf Seemeilen
Vorsprung hatte er am Morgen vor der „Assa Abloy“ (Schweden) und 14 vor
der „Tyco“ (Bermudas). Der Rest des Felds fiel weiter zurück und hofft nur
noch auf eine große Flaute vor dem Ziel, in der das Führungs-Trio
einparken könnte.
„Ich habe die amerikanischen Lebensqualitäten schon lange vermisst“,
schrieb Kostecki von Bord der „illbruck“, „hoffentlich halten die
Passatwinde lange durch, damit wir umso schneller in den Genuss kommen.“
Derzeit schaffen die führenden Yachten rund 350 Seemeilen in 24 Stunden –
traumhafte Segelbedingungen bei Ost bis Nordost Stärke vier bis fünf unter
Spinnaker. Nachdem die Verfolger am Vorabend nochmals dichter
herangekommen waren, baute das deutsche Boot seinen Vorsprung erneut aus.
„Jetzt zahlen sich unsere umfangreichen Segeltests beim Zwei-Boot-Training
vor der Regatta aus“, begründete der Skipper die derzeitige Leistung.
Obwohl das Segeln derzeit kaum schöner sein könnte, haben die Tage in der
Hitze am Äquator ihre Spuren hinterlassen. Knut Frostad, Skipper beim
Schlusslicht „djuice“ (Norwegen), das in Rio noch als Zweiter eingelaufen
war, sagte unverblümt: „Die Doldrums gehen mir auf die Nerven.“ Er machte
seinen Jungs schon kostspielige Versprechen für jedes Boot, das sie im
Endspurt doch noch überholen. Ihm fehlen schon 235 Seemeilen auf die
„illbruck“, und die Frauen der „Amer Sports Too“ (Finnland/Italien) sind
auch schon 50 Seemeilen voraus.
Andere gaben einen „sinnlichen“ Eindruck von Bord: Jez Fanstone von der
„News Corp“ beschrieb die Gerüche unter Deck wie von „zwölf nassen
Labradors in der Sauna“. Jason Carrington („Assa Abloy“) fehlten die Worte
für die „Atmosphäre in der Kevlarschwitzbox“, nachdem „zwölf Mann seit
zwölf Tagen die Boxershorts und Shirts nicht gewechselt haben“. Manch
einer sehnt sich schon an die eiskalten Tage im Southern Ocean zurück…
John Kostecki
illbruck Challenge
Southampton, England, March 20, 2002 Day 12
100 Bucks up for grabs
With more than 25,000 miles sailed in the Volvo Ocean Race, each of the
eight teams has developed its character and personality. They were all
potential winners before the beginning of the race, starting with a clean
sheet of paper as the leader board, now the stronger and weaker campaigns
can be clearly identified. This classification not only happens among the
audience, it is in the minds of the crews on the boats as well. They all
have to accept the looming possibility that they are winners or losers.
Grant Dalton was the only skipper who pointed out before the start of leg
one, that not every boat will emerge as the overall race winner;
somebody will be last. For most teams these thoughts seemed to be way
beyond the horizon, as all of them gleamed with confidence to take the
most coveted trophy in ocean racing home, after enduring nine gruelling
legs.
In the fifth leg, they all have to face the truth. This attitude is
reflected in many emails from the boats, influenced by their current
position within the fleet. Roger Nilson made the point clear, when he
wrote: “A good sked and you feel great about your possibilities to advance
in the fleet. A bad sked and you look everywhere to improve boat speed.
Which helmsmen should steer, how to trim, how hard to press the boat and
which sail takes you in the direction you want to go.”
On SEB the spirits are rising after having moved into fourth place a few
days ago. Having the bad luck of not finishing two out of four legs, and
being slowed down through gear failure on leg one, they are in desperate
need of a reasonable result to prove to their supporters that they can do
what they set out to do. Right now they are sailing on the fast lane,
keeping sound pace with the leading yachts. This makes the sailing more
fun and the jokes come easy as Tom Braidwood wrote: “Flying fish are also
joining the party, with one of our helmsmen, Magnus Woxen, copping a few
in the chest last night. There is $100 bucks on offer for anyone who grabs
one mid flight, with the catch being that you have to eat it on the spot.”
It is easy to imagine the good feelings that winning brings, but how bad
is it really when losing? Can it be compared with anything we experience
in our daily lives? Have we ever prepared for anything over the course of
two years, lived the dream of winning and being at the top of our
cherished occupation, and then having it shattered in very short time by
other people we hardly accept as being superior?
Knut Frostad’s recent emails are part of the evidence; every six hours he
faces the pressure to explain to his eleven crew mates the losses taken
over the last six hour period: “I have learnt a lot about myself right
now, and especially about how to control myself and not lose focus. Pretty
hard sometimes! First you spin around the boat pushing the guys to move a
loose t-shirt from leeward to weather bunk as we have to do everything we
can to gain every single inch on the water. The next moment you are faced
with ten pair of eyes, staring at you, wondering why we lost 30 miles to
most of the boats and no one else ended up in no wind....”
Sailing for the third time in the race, Knut is fully aware of the danger
of losing the positive attitude on board and works hard to indextain it:
“To save some weight I have also been considering the idea that the
Internet viewers could vote one person off the boat every day. As we now
should have crawled out of the no-wind area, we should have enough crew to
reach Miami. This might be risky as I realize that throwing the skipper
in, is probably the most enjoyable for all, but at least we will be very
light when we reach the Caribbean, and the wind dies, and all the boats
slow down, and..... as the last bonus for the boys, I have promised them a
certain experience in Miami for each boat we pass from now - this can be
very expensive for me, but I am certainly looking forward to it.”
Being on the podium in Rio with the clever move toward the shore shortly
before the finish built confidence in boat, sails and crew and everyone
was on a high, only to be completely inverted just a few days into the
next leg when dumped in last place.
Meanwhile the drag racing towards Miami goes on with all yachts in stable
trade wind conditions. For the next 2000 miles it is the boat speed the
crews can squeeze out of boat and sails that counts. Illbruck, ASSA ABLOY
and Tyco are still going strong in front, where illbruck has eked out a
few precious miles. A satisfied John Kostecki said: “Today we were able to
open up a little lead, which is a direct result of our sail testing
sessions we did before the race started. It is nice to see the benefits of
our two-boat testing, because it took a lot of work and dedication from
our entire team. It would be nice to continue to have an edge on our tough
competitors but this is highly unlikely so we are expecting a tight race
all the way to the finish.”
Southampton, England, March 20, 2002 2200 GMT
The aim of the flying fish!
Whether you are at the front of the fleet or bringing up the rear – the
thoughts and conversation appear to be the same amongst the crews in the
Volvo Ocean Race. The current topic is flying fish. It would appear that
these tiny creatures of the deep have a suicidal tendency, but only at
night. What is not clear is whether they are aiming for the yacht or the
crew – maybe a secret competition is going on – which fish can inflict the
most pain to the crew.
Stig Westergaard on djuice wrote earlier tonight “Anthony Nossiter, who
was helming, suddenly screams. We think it is some Australian Zen thing.
No, he got hit dead centre on the forehead, only centimetres from the eye.
It is not the concept of being one eyed; many people only have one eye.
One could loose the eye in a wipe out, in a fight with lethal piranhas or
something else a little more macho than a flying fish”. The thoughts are
shared on Amer Sports One. Dee Smith writes that Chris Nicholson “Got
Slimmed” twice whilst sailing at 14 knots and the flying fish came at him
at eight knots in the opposite direction. Ouch!
Back on the racing front, the spread of the fleet has reindexed much the
same over the last few hours, with no positions changing. ASSA ABLOY and
Tyco have been matching illbrucks pace determind at least to hold onto
second and third positions, whilst further back SEB and Amer Sports One
are slowly closing on the lead pack.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 2156 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 12 53.64N 055 21.60W 01627 306 12.1 324 000 +0 26 MAR 02 37
2 AART 12 45.12N 055 14.32W 01637 304 12.0 322 010 +00 26 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 12 34.08N 055 13.92W 01645 305 12.0 321 018 +01 26 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 11 39.96N 053 55.40W 01738 303 12.4 322 111 -02 27 MAR 02 17
5 AONE 11 18.84N 053 24.52W 01775 303 12.4 319 148 -02 27 MAR 02 26
6 NEWS 11 02.04N 052 57.64W 01806 304 12.1 321 179 +00 27 MAR 02 22
7 ATOO 10 54.88N 052 50.64W 01816 307 11.8 314 189 +02 27 MAR 02 9
8 DJCE 10 11.04N 052 24.16W 01864 307 12.2 320 237 -01 27 MAR 02 18
Southampton, England, March 20th, Day 12, 2002 1600 GMT
Drag race to Miami
The fleet racing in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race has now separated
very definitely into an A-fleet and a B-fleet. Cross and shifty winds for
the A-fleet members; illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and Tyco who are in sight of
each other and now 113 miles ahead of the B-fleet. SEB is the B-fleet
leader, while the crew racing Amer Sports One are holding out very little
hope of passing the three leaders before Miami and are concentrating on
catching SEB and keeping the rest of the chasing pack at arm’s length. To
over take, or even catch the A-fleet would require the wind the leaders
are enjoying to drop away completely.
The navigators are having a quiet time with no real tactics involved, at
least until the fleet reaches Barbuda, the most northeasterly island in
the West Indies. Their time is taken up with optimising the approach to
Barbuda as the drag race continues in the northeast trades. Sailing is
faster and cooler and the breeze more consistent in strength and
direction. However the weather Gods may not be smiling on the leaders as
once past Barbuda, the forecast is for lighter, variable winds, a likely
weak frontal passage and unsettled weather - just what the B-team needs to
catch up and already they are averaging better speeds.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 1600 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 12 11.00N 054 21.68W 01699 310 12.8 341 000 +0 26 MAR 02 37
2 AART 12 04.96N 054 13.40W 01709 307 12.8 338 010 -02 26 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 11 53.24N 054 13.88W 01716 307 12.7 335 017 +01 26 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 10 59.08N 052 52.20W 01812 309 13.4 333 113 -04 26 MAR 02 17
5 AONE 10 38.68N 052 21.00W 01849 306 13.6 329 150 -05 27 MAR 02 26
6 NEWS 10 22.48N 051 56.92W 01878 308 13.6 336 179 -05 27 MAR 02 22
7 ATOO 10 12.24N 051 53.80W 01886 309 13.2 329 187 -03 27 MAR 02 9
8 DJCE 09 27.12N 051 25.00W 01937 310 13.1 333 238 -02 27 MAR 02 18
Southampton, England, March 20, 2002 1000 GMT
Fighting spirit for Amer Sports Too
All boats lined up behind illbruck, ASSA ABLOY and Tyco in the constant
trade wind sailing the fleet is still enjoying. The wind constantly
oscillates between east-northeast and east-southeast, sometimes in the low
twenties, then dropping to the high teens. Roger Nilson, Amer Sports One’s
navigator expects a big wind-shift to the right over the next few days. In
order to get a good wind angle once this wind-shift comes through, he
expects the yachts to bear away slightly and go closer to the West Indies.
The girls on Amer Sports Too are in full fighting spirit, even though
their water maker stopped working and they have to use the manual backup.
They are not accepting that News Corp has overtaken them and are keen to
get the place back, they lost yesterday.
The gaps are widening as the trailing boats are sailing constantly at a
slightly lower speed than the one ahead. All the yachts are enjoying easy
330 to 350 miles a day, which should be indextained for the next couple of
days. All the yachts should be in Miami by March 27.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 11 22.24N 053 21.68W 01775 310 14.2 351 0 +0 26 MAR 02 37
2 AART 11 17.52N 053 09.76W 01787 313 14.0 349 12 +1 26 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 11 07.68N 053 12.44W 01791 305 13.9 349 16 +2 26 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 10 08.28N 051 49.40W 01892 311 13.7 337 117 +3 26 MAR 02 17
5 AONE 09 51.36N 051 14.12W 01930 305 13.8 333 155 +3 27 MAR 02 26
6 NEWS 09 32.68N 050 52.04W 01959 305 13.8 337 184 +3 27 MAR 02 22
7 ATOO 09 22.80N 050 51.56W 01965 313 13.3 329 190 +5 27 MAR 02 9
8 DJCE 08 37.44N 050 24.24W 02015 306 13.6 334 240 +5 27 MAR 02 18
Southampton, England, March 20th, 2002 0400 GMT
Which Would You Choose?
The boats in the Volvo Ocean Race are still enjoying steady trade wind
sailing, with the forecast promising a brisk 15-20 knots from the east or
northeast. All boats have relinquished mileage to the leader, Illbruck,
with the exception of Tyco in 3rd place, who has indextained a 14 mile
distance from the lead boat, and is now only 3 miles behind ASSA ABLOY, in
2nd place.
This ocean marathon is certainly a race of stark contrasts, highlighted by
Grant Spanhake aboard Tyco. He muses that if you asked 100 people to
volunteer for a job which entailed being deprived of sleep, placed in
extreme danger, always wet, and being faced with a real threat of
frostbite, there would be few if any takers. Conversely, if the same group
was offered a job which involved sailing in the Caribbean on warm, clear
starlit nights, there would be no shortage of volunteers. Seems a
reasonable assumption!
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 0407 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 10 28.24N 052 15.12W 01860 305 14.9 348 000 +0 26 MAR 02 37
2 AART 10 20.44N 052 07.68W 01871 308 15.0 350 011 +02 26 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 10 20.00N 052 03.72W 01874 308 14.9 349 014 +00 26 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 09 14.16N 050 47.16W 01974 316 14.3 331 114 +04 27 MAR 02 17
5 AONE 09 04.80N 050 05.60W 02012 311 13.5 328 152 +08 27 MAR 02 26
6 NEWS 08 45.04N 049 44.28W 02041 306 14.0 333 181 +05 27 MAR 02 22
7 ATOO 08 28.68N 049 52.60W 02045 307 14.1 319 185 +06 27 MAR 02 9
8 DJCE 07 49.96N 049 18.52W 02095 308 14.4 323 235 +02 27 MAR 02 18
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