Southampton, England, April 30th, 2002 0400 GMT
Southampton, England, April 30, 2002 Day 3
The Flying Carpet
Today all the yachts reached the Gulf Stream, the huge flow of warm water
that gives the Volvo Ocean Race yachts a boost on their way across the
Atlantic Ocean. Tyco’s navigator Steve Hayles was the first one to report
on what the crews call their flying carpet: “We stayed relatively close
and the majority of the boats are in sight at present as we enjoy very
fast spinnaker reaching conditions and the index flow of the Gulf Stream,
which the leading pack reached about an hour ago, boosts our speed. As I
sit here the speed over the ground on the GPS is regularly reading over 20
knots.”
The Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are the source of what is likely
the most well known current in the oceans. The Gulf Stream marks the
dividing line between warm, low-productivity waters to the south and
colder, more productive waters near the North American continental shelf.
Another feature of interest are large circular features or eddies that
appear to both the north and south of the Gulf Stream front. In general,
the rings are about 50-300 km in diameter, and they extend to considerable
depths. They should be visualized as concentric cylinders rather than
simply surface features. Rings are examples of mesoscale phenomena in the
oceans, features that are smaller than the scale of an entire ocean basin
(such as the North Atlantic), but which are still quite large and
influential.
The transport of the Florida Current is approximately 30 Sverdrups (Sv).
One Sverdrup is one million cubic meters of water per second! The
transport of the Gulf Stream increases to 85 Sv near Cape Hatteras, peaks
at 150 Sv near 65°W, then decreases eastward of 65°W.
The Gulf Stream is probably one of the most researched oceanographic
features on the planet. It has a great influence on the climate of Western
Europe and the weather of North and Middle Europe. Dr. Simon Boxall from
the Southampton Oceanographic Centre and scientific head of the Volvo
Ocean Adventure is therefore concerned about the effects pollution and
global warming could have on the “central heating” of Europe: “In a worst
case scenario, we looked at a diversion of the Gulf Stream. This could
mean Labrador conditions for large parts of Europe inspite of global
warming.” To collect more information on the Oceans, all the yachts
sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race are fitted out with sensors that collect
various scientific data to be analysed by Boxall’s team.
The vagaries of the Gulf Stream are putting extra pressure on the
navigators as Knut Frostad, skipper on djuice wrote: “A few hours ago we
finally touched the Gulf Stream, sending us northeast with about three
knots. It’s pretty hard to predict the exact movements of the stream as
the information we can get is not updated more often than once every five
days, and right now all the boats are trying to hit the corner where it
changes direction from going north east to going straight east. At the
same time you want to have a favourable wind direction and make sure you
do not get lifted out of the stream as well. Lot’s of variables, and some
very exiting days for the navigators.”
Also Mark Rudiger from second placed ASSA ABLOY reports the same: “I think
I got about two hours sleep in 36 [hours], because there was always
something ahead that needed analysing and boats all around to keep track
of. Amer Sports One once again proved their superior boat speed and
gained a nice lead out of the bay, only to give it away by not optimising
their route to the “Stream””.
Screaming downwind sailing is the call of the day. With a top speed of
29.9 knots recorded by leg and race winner illbruck, the eight yachts in
the Volvo Ocean Race are flying toward Europe. Even though the pace is the
same as it was in the Southern Ocean, the sailing is much more
comfortable. The Gulf Stream acts like a huge central heating system,
keeping the temperature in the boats above 20 degrees Celsius.
Followed by ASSA ABLOY and Tyco, illbruck is charging northeast towards
the exclusion zone approximately 150 miles to the north. Amer Sports One,
neck and neck with News Corp and one mile behind SEB, was the only yacht
to keep the pace with Kostecki’s illbruck challenge. Djuice and Amer
Sports Too lost almost twenty miles, which equates to three knots less
boat speed.
Enjoying the conditions, John Kostecki wrote this morning: “Although the
Baltimore/Annapolis stopover was great, it is nice to be out at sea again
racing. “
Southampton, England, April 30, 2002 2200 GMT
No Stopping the Record Breaking Volvo Fleet
At 1534 GMT today it looked as though illbruck had broken the 24 Hour
Monohull World Record by covering a huge 473 nautical miles, this evening
the crew have pushed even harder and, subject to confirmation and
ratification by the International Sailing Federation, she has achieved a
staggering 484 nautical miles. This was achieved between 19:44 GMT on 29
April and the same time today, 30 April 2002. As focused as ever,
skipper John Kostecki, said in an interview, that the aim is still to win
this leg of the Volvo Ocean Race and that he and the crew are not even
thinking about the World Record. During this amazing 24 hour period
illbruck had a steady 25 – 30 knots of wind and had used a variety of
sails, but believe their good fortune is indexly down to their Masthead
Spinnaker, and prior to that the smaller Reaching Spinnaker, which they
were using.
Whilst leading the fleet, illbruck has managed to hold onto a lead of 17
nautical miles ahead of the second placed yacht, Tyco. Tyco has managed
to pull slightly ahead of ASSA ABLOY into second place, and is the only
yacht over the last six hours to close any distance on the leaders, the
rest of the fleet have lost up to 21 miles on the speeding leaders!
illbruck is not the only V.O.60 yacht to have broken the both the Class
and World Records, again subject to confirmation and ratification, it
looks very likely that Tyco has achieved a 24 hour run of 474 miles, ASSA
ABLOY 471 miles and SEB just squeezing in at 468 miles. These high speeds
are certainly making for an exciting dash across the Atlantic.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 2207 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 38 58.72N 061 28.28W 2692 80 19.3 481 0 0 10/05/02 15:57 49
2 TYCO 38 53.68N 061 50.08W 2710 83 20 474 18 -3 10/05/02 17:26 34
3 AART 38 40.72N 061 51.68W 2713 85 18.9 470 21 +2 10/05/02 17:48 40
4 TSEB 38 42.72N 062 00.20W 2719 87 18.9 463 27 +4 10/05/02 18:18 26
5 NEWS 38 42.32N 062 00.88W 2720 86 18.9 462 28 +3 10/05/02 18:21 35
6 AONE 38 39.96N 062 11.44W 2729 78 18.7 460 37 +4 10/05/02 19:06 35
7 DJCE 38 33.44N 062 42.12W 2753 85 18.5 441 61 +5 10/05/02 21:15 23
8 ATOO 38 22.80N 063 42.24W 2802 83 16.5 413 110 +17 11/05/02 01:29 10
Southampton, England, April 30, 2002 1600 GMT
illbruck Breaks World Record
From 1534 GMT April 29 until the same time today illbruck has covered 473
miles (19,708 knots) and thus broken the 24-hour monohull world record
that was held by Bernard Stamm on the Open 60 Armor Lux (467.70 nautical
miles, 19.49 knots average speed). This record is still provisional and
has to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council at the
International Sailing Federation. Illbruck’s positions for this speed
record were derived from a Satcom C unit and constantly monitored by Volvo
Ocean Race headquarters. The measurement for the record is made between
two GPS positions over any 24-hour period.
SEB has held the V.O.60 class record since leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race
and has now equalled this mileage. ASSA ABLOY, Tyco and Amer Sports One
are not far off the pace. Amer Sports Too has, for the first time in the
race, covered more than 400 miles in 24 hours.
At the time all the yachts are sailing faster than 24 hours ago and it is
possible that they will beat their own records over the next few hours.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 1554 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 38 38.16N 063 53.80W 02807 075 21.4 474 0 +0 10 MAY 02 49
2 AART 38 30.56N 064 15.68W 02826 073 20.9 458 19 +3 10 MAY 02 41
3 TYCO 38 39.92N 064 20.93W 02828 072 21.2 458 21 +2 10 MAY 02 33
4 TSEB 38 36.32N 064 23.76W 02830 074 21.0 460 23 +1 10 MAY 02 26
5 NEWS 38 35.24N 064 25.32W 02832 076 21.2 454 25 +2 10 MAY 02 35
6 AONE 38 17.36N 064 31.08W 02840 077 19.7 450 33 +10 10 MAY 02 35
7 DJCE 38 23.72N 065 02.20W 02863 072 19.4 433 56 +13 11 MAY 02 23
8 ATOO 38 11.20N 065 47.08W 02900 077 17.9 407 93 +21 11 MAY 02 10
Southampton, England, April 30, 2002 1000 GMT
illbruck’s Fired Up
Screaming downwind sailing is the call of the day. With a top speed of
29.9 knots recorded by leg and race winner illbruck, the eight yachts in
the Volvo Ocean Race are flying toward Europe. Even though the pace is the
same as it was in the Southern Ocean, the sailing is much more
comfortable. The Gulf Stream acts like a huge central heating system,
keeping the temperature in the boats above 20 degrees Celsius.
Followed by ASSA ABLOY and Tyco, illbruck is charging northeast towards
the exclusion zone approximately 150 miles to the north. Amer Sports One,
neck and neck with News Corp and one mile behind SEB, was the only yacht
to keep the pace with Kostecki’s illbruck challenge. Djuice and Amer
Sports Too lost almost twenty miles, which equates to three knots less
boat speed.
Enjoying the conditions, John Kostecki wrote this morning: “Although the
Baltimore/Annapolis stopover was great, it is nice to be out at sea again
racing. “
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 38 05.96N 066 30.84W 2934 71 19.2 415 0 0 11/05/02 01:07 49
2 AART 37 55.08N 066 47.52W 2950 76 19.1 401 16 +1 11/05/02 02:26 41
3 TYCO 38 00.80N 066 54.12W 2953 75 18.9 398 19 +2 11/05/02 02:45 33
4 TSEB 38 02.08N 066 57.72W 2956 77 17.9 396 22 +8 11/05/02 02:57 26
5 AONE 37 51.67N 066 55.92W 2957 76 19.2 399 23 0 11/05/02 03:04 36
6 NEWS 38 03.80N 067 00.36W 2957 74 17.7 394 23 +9 11/05/02 03:06 34
7 DJCE 37 47.44N 067 21.16W 2977 80 16.1 381 43 +19 11/05/02 04:50 23
8 ATOO 37 46.60N 067 58.92W 3006 68 16.3 361 72 +18 11/05/02 07:22 10
Hurrying On
The yachts competing in the Volvo Ocean Race are continuing to make good
speed as they reach out eastwards into the Atlantic. Over the past 6 hours
they have averaged close on 20 knots, and 24 hour runs are now in excess
of 300 miles. With the winds forecast to continue at force 6-7 from the
north west, there should be no slackening of speed for the next 24 hours
at least. With these conditions in mind there could be a few crews eyeing
the monohull 24 hour distance record.
Illbruck continues to dominate the field, and has increased her lead to 14
miles over SEB and News Corp, currently in joint 2nd place. ASSA ABLOY has
eased ahead of Tyco to take 4th place, and the rest of the fleet has
stretched out slightly, with the girls in Amer Sports Too battling to keep
in touch some 54 miles off the lead.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 0406 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 37 27.84N 068 51.52W 3052 79 20.4 340 0 0 11/05/02 05:11 49
2 TSEB 37 37.16N 069 13.32W 3066 79 19.5 329 14 +5 11/05/02 06:23 28
3 NEWS 37 33.76N 069 12.24W 3066 75 19.4 325 14 +5 11/05/02 06:23 37
4 AART 37 26.16N 069 11.28W 3067 79 19.6 326 15 +4 11/05/02 06:30 39
5 TYCO 37 31.32N 069 16.00W 3069 76 19.2 322 17 +6 11/05/02 06:42 31
6 AONE 37 23.20N 069 20.04W 3075 79 19.1 317 23 +8 11/05/02 07:09 35
7 DJCE 37 30.24N 069 23.80W 3076 77 19.8 317 24 +3 11/05/02 07:14 23
8 ATOO 37 08.44N 069 55.16W 3106 87 18.7 299 54 +14 11/05/02 09:51 10
|
