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Southampton, England, Leg 5, Week 1
The Big Bang
In what was one of the greatest Volvo Ocean Race starts, the fleet was
sent away on Saturday, March 9 from Rio de Janeiro, where the amount of
interest and boats on the water exceeded the most optimistic expectations.
In the searing heat of Rio de Janeiro, Lisa McDonald, the skipper of Amer
Sports Too, made a last minute change to her crew for leg five. Bridget
Suckling, one of the two crew working the bow, was already onboard the
boat and intending to race, but medics recommended that she should stay
ashore to recover from influenza. Britain’s Eleanor Hay was quick to take
her place. Hay, who sailed with the team on leg one, was delighted to
have the chance to race again, having filled the role of shore manager
more recently.
Djuice led the fleet through the forts while Amer Sports One and Too were
conducting a tight battle for second place, the ladies on Amer Sports Too
having their best start yet. In the middle, in a tight group, were Assa
Abloy, illbruck, News Corp and Tyco. SEB was showing a less than
sparkling performance in these conditions, bringing up the rear.
But not long into this leg, disaster struck race leader illbruck as has
happened before during the first few hours of racing. In a port -
starboard situation, SEB collided with the German yacht when trying to
duck her, sailing on port tack under the obligation to give way. They
misjudged it and cut their bow into illbruck’s deck edge about a metre
from the stern, ripping off the stanchions and the pushpit. Recognising
their error, SEB did her 720-degree penalty turn and continued in the race
while illbruck was left in last place and flying a protest flag.
Soon after rounding Cabo Frio, memories of leg 1 came back to many crews
as the temperatures started to soar and the tropical rainsqualls set in.
News Corp managed to take the lead as she tacked right at Cabo Frio to a
northerly course, while the other yachts continued on starboard tack on an
easterly course. Once the wind shift came through, the fleet tacked and
News Corp’s early lead was taken away by ASSA ABLOY on day three. Illbruck
managed to climb back on the leader board on was hot on ASSA ABLOY’s
heels.
>From this moment on, three yachts started to separate from the fleet with
what seems to be superior speed: Tyco, illbruck and ASSA ABLOY sailed as
if bound together by a shock-cord never letting them part from each other
for more than three miles.
The trailing group started to race their own race, concentrating on the
places five to eight as fourth position was safely held by News Corp on a
westerly course.
SEB, in last place, was bringing up the wooden spoon for several days in
a row but managed, in a burst of speed, to overtake the yachts in front of
her, leaving a highly surprised Grant Dalton on Amer Sports One in last
place, while the Amer Sports Too girls moved up to sixth place.
By the end of week one, the fleet was stretched over 70 miles and headed
for the equator in the sweltering heat. The rainsqualls will be the most
influential weather phenomenon on this leg so far. Being on the right side
could mean a fresh breeze and making twelve knots for some hours, leaving
the competition out of sight and behind. Getting stuck under a cloud in
torrential rain at the same time mounts to losing several miles that can
add up to a severe loss.
For the crews these conditions mean extremely hard work as the wind speed
changes within minutes and the trim has to be adjusted. This not only
involves the sail trim but the ballasting as well. Getting caught in a
sudden calm with all the water ballast and the sails stacked to windward
is like hitting the brakes as the boat heels over to windward and the
sails cease to work immediately.
Life on board is demanding, not only in the Southern Ocean, but in the
tropics as well. Twelve sweating bodies develop a certain odour the
morning sun is hard to bear for some. Afternoons are slightly better as
the sun is behind the sails in the southeasterly breeze.
Quote from the boats:
Rodney Ardern, SEB: “In the last 24 hours we have had a few close
encounters with the locals. During the night we had to avoid a poorly lit
cruising catamaran that was idling along on port with not a care in the
world only to be rudely disrupted but six screaming yachties politely
explaining the intricacies of the right of way rules. Is that the pot
calling the kettle black?”
Richard Clarke, illbruck: Spot check has started, meaning that any
suspicious spots on a crewmember's body are thoroughly checked out to make
sure they are not the type that might fester into a nasty boil. If there
is one, then copious quantities of nappy cream and baby powder are applied
to try and curb the sore. The bonus here is that down below deck is
starting to smell more like a nursery than a locker room."
Djuice: “Good on you girls, keep it up. We cross our fingers that you beat
one of the skippers, no names mentioned, who once claimed that was he ever
beaten by the girls he would walk naked up he streets of Auckland with a
pineapple up his ***. Why the otherwise unnamed captain chose the streets
of Auckland is up to the reader to decipher.”
Steve Hayles, Tyco: “I make many mistakes during every leg but my biggest
so far on this one was to mention a couple of days ago that we were behind
schedule and if (note the word if) we carried on at the same speed (which
we won't) the leg would take us 21 days. The ensuing panic has calmed a
little but the thought of rationing is not a welcome one.”
Bouwe Bekking, Amer Sports One: 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.
Mark Rudiger, ASSA ABLOY: “Couldn’t sleep much on my last off watch due to
the heat, and me being in a lower bunk with sweat constantly dripping down
on me from the upper bunk. We try to drink as much as possible, we need at
least a full bucket a day. That’s a lot of water, especially when the
water is 28 degrees and there is no ice machine onboard.”
Bart Simpson, 13th crewmember on News Corp: ”Of course, my great
navigational skills are helping out as well. I use the stars to guide us.
Oprah Major and Oprah Minor, Conan O'Brien's Belt, Keanu-opeia.”
Lisa McDonald: “Things were looking pretty good before daybreak, we had a
good position relative to the boats in front of us and behind us and we
had our sights set on our next goal - Dalts [Grant Dalton]. We managed to
sneak up behind the boys on Amer Sports One and play cat and mouse in the
clouds for a few hours, we even got over them at one stage - wish I had
taken a picture.”
Background stories:
On the collision between SEB and illbruck:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020310_collision.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020310_boatbuilder_onboard.html
On the conditions on board the yachts:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/ilbk/email/leg_5/20020316_clarke.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/atoo/email/leg_5/20020314_westmacott.html
On the weather in the tropics:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020312_black_clouds.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/tyco/email/leg_5/20020316_hayles.html
Thoughts about superstitions involving the colour green for yachts:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/tseb/email/leg_5/20020312_krantz_2.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020314_superstition.html
Bart Simpson’s thoughts about this leg:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/news/email/leg_5/20020314_bart.html
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 9, 1000 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 01 16.92N 040 31.40W 02750 321 11.7 263 0 +0 27 MAR 02 37
2 AART 01 13.04N 040 24.68W 02758 324 11.4 259 8 +4 27 MAR 02 27
3 TYCO 01 14.36N 040 22.72W 02759 324 11.0 256 9 +6 27 MAR 02 24
4 TSEB 00 12.36S 040 48.44W 02796 316 10.9 264 46 +5 28 MAR 02 17
5 ATOO 00 26.64S 040 12.88W 02832 298 10.7 244 82 +7 28 MAR 02 11
6 NEWS 00 29.52N 039 20.48W 02835 320 09.7 222 85 +12 28 MAR 02 22
7 AONE 00 07.92N 039 37.84W 02836 323 08.1 236 86 +23 28 MAR 02 24
8 DJCE 00 22.80S 039 23.20W 02867 323 05.4 206 117 +39 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
ILBK illbruck Challenge
AONE Amer Sports One
ATOO Amer Sports Two
AART ASSA ABLOY Racing Team
NEWS News Corporation
TYCO Team Tyco
TSEB Team SEB
DJCE djuice dragons
Volvo and Volvo Ocean Race Background
The Volvo Car Corporation has its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.
27,400 people worldwide are employed by Volvo Cars and in the year 2001,
the company sold 420,500 cars.
Volvo is one of the world’s leading suppliers of commercial transport
solutions. The group manufactures trucks, buses, and construction
equipment, power systems for marine and industrial use, and aircraft
engine components. Founded in 1927, Volvo currently has about 79.000
employees, manufacturing operations in 30 countries and a worldwide market
and service organisation.
The Volvo Ocean Race is run every four years. It starts in Southampton on
September 23rd 2001 and finishes in Kiel, Germany, on June 9th 2002. Over
a period lasting some nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race will reach a broad
audience around the world via modern communication technology.
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