Tagesberichte siehe Menu unten
Southampton, England, Leg 6, Week 1
Victory As Birthday Present
In an extraordinary start in Miami, six of the eight boats racing in leg
six of the Volvo Ocean Race from Miami to Baltimore were OCS (over the
line) at the sound of the starting cannon and had to return and re-cross
the line correctly.
As the fleet charged towards the start line at 1300 local time, all but
Amer Sports Too and ASSA ABLOY were caught as early starters. VHF radio,
a gun signal and flag X recalled the boats. A 13-knot southeasterly
breeze had kicked up a one-metre swell as the countdown began and the
incidents took place. Lisa McDonald’s team of ladies onboard Amer Sports
Too made a perfect start and led the fleet under spinnaker from ASSA
ABLOY, reaching the first turning mark 200 hundred metres ahead.
illbruck, the first boat to realise her mistake, turned round quickly and
returned to the line, re-crossed it and passed the first turning mark in
third, immediately chipping away at ASSA ABLOY in second.
In fourth place was Amer Sports One, also very quick to react to her error
and return to the line. SEB was in fifth, followed by djuice, who was the
only boat to carry a 13th crewmember, which is allowed under the rules to
carry a member of the media on this leg. Tyco followed djuice and News
Corp, who appeared to have made the best start, but sailed the furthest,
wrapping her spinnaker tightly round the mast while making her turn back
towards the line, eventually starting correctly in last position.
Following the start that saw six boats recalled, the race office was
informed of the following intentions to protest:
Amer Sports One protesting djuice for a start line incident. djuice was
seen to complete a 720-degree penalty turn. ASSA ABLOY has filed an
intention to protest illbruck, for a pre-start incident. Tyco are seeking
redress from the Race Committee regarding the restart.
Amer Sports Too was the winner of the early hours of leg six. While other
yachts went back behind the starting line to start correctly, the all
female crew enjoyed an early lead that was soon challenged by ASSA ABLOY.
Amer Sports Too was fighting hard with illbruck for second. The second
group of yachts were hard on the heels of illbruck and Amer Sports Too:
Amer Sports One, SEB, Tyco and News Corp were just one mile behind with
courses slightly diverging.
The general consensus was that the Gulf Stream Drift would be a
significant factor in the first 200 miles of the leg to Baltimore. The
trick was to find this current and endeavour to ride it for as long as it
reindexed favourable to the course sailed.
The only yacht that tried a different approach to the Gulf Stream route
taken by the yachts, was Lisa McDonald’s Amer Sports Too. The girls
decided to take a more north easterly course, while everybody else was
heading almost due north. Were they already planning a faster lane in the
lighter stuff ahead? With nothing to lose they were certainly in a
position to try more radical approaches in the legs to come.
After two days of racing, again the fleet has split in two plus the single
yacht Amer Sports Too. The first four yachts, illbruck, ASSA ABLOY, Amer
Sports One and News Corp managed to get away from the trailing trio SEB,
Tyco and djuice, which were once again trapped by a black rain cloud.
Meanwhile the gamble taken onboard Amer Sports Too was not going to pay
off after all.
News Corp moved back into first, a position they hadn’t seen for some
time. They managed to sail a deeper course and were pushed by the Gulf
Stream this bit further north. SEB in the second group with double gold
medal winner Mark Reynolds on board took control of the close opposition
Tyco and djuice.
Amer Sports Too was the first yacht to gybe onto port tack and was biting
the bullet to sail into the back of the whole fleet.
On Wednesday morning News Corp passed the bridge that marks the entry to
the Chesapeake Bay, leading Amer Sports One and with illbruck in sight
behind. The entrance to Chesapeake is just 10 miles wide and the first
three yachts entered the final 140-mile sprint for the top places of this
leg. They were flying along in a 20-knot southwesterly breeze averaging
over ten knots. But soon after the breeze had died away, Amer Sports One,
who was able to hold on to the old breeze for a bit longer, closed the
distance to News Corp down to just three boat lengths. After a perfect
spinnaker peel, News Corp was able to increase the distance again to a
quarter of a mile.
Further back the fleet was lined up with roughly 20 miles between the
boats. ASSA ABLOY, in fourth place, was followed by SEB and Tyco. Amer
Sports Too had successfully overtaken djuice and built up a two-mile lead.
The teams then had to battle out the closing stages of the leg into
Baltimore. From the leading yacht News Corp, Jez Fanstone wrote: “It is
like a game of snakes and ladders so let’s hope the last roll of the dice
gives us a ladder to finish on. With 100 miles to go anything can happen
in these fickle conditions. illbruck has pulled up a mile in the last
couple of hours having fallen behind at day break and the forecast is not
for straight forward sailing by any means.”
Not much later, the sweetest birthday present imaginable was handed
Thursday morning to News Corp’s campaign director and former co-skipper
Ross Field: victory in leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race from Miami to
Baltimore. Grant Dalton showed strength in bringing Amer Sports One into
Baltimore in second place.
illbruck had to accept fourth place for the second time after leg three
into Auckland. Still their performance is formidable with
One-One-Four-One-Two-Four the benchmark for all the other boats. ASSA
ABLOY has shown consistency over recent legs and has kept their overall
second position in the fleet with the third place in this leg. The fight
for overall second and third will intensify as three yachts are separated
by just three points.
After a frustrating final night at sea, Team SEB drifted across the
finishing line to claim fifth place. Baking under bright morning sunshine
and record-breaking spring temperatures, skipper Gunnar Krantz and his
crew will have mixed feelings about this leg. It marks the first time
since the end of the second leg that the Green Machine has stuck together
two consecutive finishes, but Krantz and his crew surely had higher hopes
for this sprint up the coast. In the last Whitbread Round the World Race,
Krantz, on Swedish Match, gambled on an easterly route off the coast and
screamed into Baltimore’s Inner Basin in first place.
Later in the day the final three boats finished under the shadow of a
giant thunderhead, the weather signalling the first break in the
record-setting high temperatures on the American East Coast this week.
The final three boats in the fleet sailed their own private race over the
last 36-hours, at times separated by just minutes on the position reports.
But Kevin Shoebridge’s Team Tyco outduelled the others to claim sixth
place on the leg-standings.
Amer Sports Too, led by Lisa McDonald, at times looked as though they
might earn their first finish with at least one boat behind them on the
water, but in the end, Knut Frostad and his djuice Dragons proved too
quick in the light shifty conditions that dominated the final 24-hours of
racing.
As djuice replaced Tyco on the arrival pontoon, and Amer Sports Too
crossed the finishing line, the heavens opened and a flood of rain ushered
McDonald’ s crew into the inner harbour.
Subject to possible protests, the final points table below leg six shows
Assa Abloy chipping away one point at illbruck’s still formidable
seven-point lead. Amer Sports One and Team News Corp are holding close to
Assa Abloy.
Background Stories:
Daily stories:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020415_if_only.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020416_Chess.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press/raceoffice/all_legs/20020417_snakes_and_ladders.html
Tactical considerations on the leg from Miami to Baltimore:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/aart/email/leg_6/20020415_rudiger.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/ilbk/email/leg_6/20020415_kostecki.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/atoo/email/leg_6/20020416_LMD.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/djce/email/leg_6/20020416_frostad.html
Life on board:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/tseb/email/leg_6/20020416_reynolds.html
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/team/aart/email/leg_6/20020416_rudiger.html
All dockside interviews at the end of this leg:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/email/
Overall position after six legs pending protests
PS Yacht Leg 3 points Arrival Time Elapsed Time Combined Time PO Overall
Pos.
1 NEWS 8 18 APR 02 06:12:32 003d 13h 12m 32s 110d 03h 43m 50s 31 4
2 AONE 7 18 APR 02 06:38:48 003d 13h 38m 48s 107d 19h 07m 37s 32 3
3 AART 6 18 APR 02 06:58:44 003d 13h 58m 44s 110d 22h 14m 48s 34 2
4 ILBK 5 18 APR 02 07:01:44 003d 14h 01m 44s 106d 20h 57m 14s 41 1
5 TSEB 4 18 APR 02 14:42.23 003d 21h 42m 23s - 21 6
6 Tyco 3 18 APR 02 18:00:18 004d 01h 00m 18s - 27 5
7 djuice 2 18 APR 02 18:10:58 004d 01h 10m 58s 115d 08h 12m 47s 21 6
8 ATOO
1 18 APR 02 18:50:24 004d 01h 50m 24s 122d 13h 48m 07s 9 9
Leaderboard
PS Yacht Points
1 illbruck 41
2 ASSA ABLOY 34
3 Amer Sports One 32
4 News Corp 31
5 Tyco 27
6 SEB 21
7 DJCE 21
8 Amer Sports Too 9
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
|
