Pressemitteilung der illbruck Challenge vom 10. Tag der 7. Etappe des
Volvo Ocean Race
HINWEISE FÜR DIE REDAKTIONEN AM ENDE
7. Mai 2002
Grippe an Bord der „illbruck“
Vorsprung dennoch ausgebaut / „Assa Abloy“ wieder vor „Tyco“ /Ankunft
Donnerstag Vormittag
La Rochelle – Der Endspurt der siebten Etappe des Volvo Ocean Race wird
für die Crew der führenden Leverkusener Yacht „illbruck“ zu einem
doppelten Rennen gegen die Zeit. Zwar hatte sie die Führung am Dienstag
Mittag auf 36 Seemeilen vor der „Assa Abloy“ (Schweden) und 40 Seemeilen
vor der „Tyco“ (Bermudas) ausgebaut. Doch zum einen versuchen die
Verfolger durch Kurswechsel nach Süden alles, um das deutsche Boot 600
Seemeilen vor dem Ziel noch einzuholen. Zum anderen ist die „illbruck
“-Mannschaft durch eine Grippe an Bord mit allen typischen Symptomen
geschwächt und sehnt den Einlauf in La Rochelle/Frankreich herbei, der
voraussichtlich am Donnerstag (Himmelfahrt) Vormittags erfolgen wird.
Zumindest die Wetterlage spricht derzeit eindeutig für Skipper John
Kostecki und sein Team. Nach einer kleinen Flaute in der Nacht, als sie
nochmals unter einer dicken Wolke hängen blieben, scheint der Keil des
Azorenhochs durchkreuzt zu sein. An der Spitze des Felds nahm der Wind
zuerst wieder zu und frischte am Dienstag weiter auf. So verloren alle
Gegner in sechs Stunden zwischen drei („Assa Abloy“) und 17 Seemeilen
(„djuice“/Norwegen) auf den Spitzenreiter. Auch die schwedische „SEB“, die
einen extrem südlichen Kurs eingeschlagen hatte, büßte fünf Seemeilen ein
und blieb 60 Seemeilen hinter der „illbruck“ auf Rang vier.
Steuermann und Segeltrimmer Richard Clarke, der auch für die Verpflegung
an Bord zuständig ist, aber unschuldig am Virus sei, beschrieb die
Belastung durch die Magen-Darm-Grippe so: „Aufgebrachte Mägen, Fieber,
Schmerzen und das in einer nicht gerade netten Umgebung. Ein ungünstiger
Moment für mich war es, bei Halbwind das Großsegel zu trimmen und mich
dabei an Deck zu übergeben. Ich habe versucht, das Stu, der gesteuert hat,
nichts abbekam, und glücklicherweise hat die Gischt schnell wieder alles
von Deck gespült. John musste die Gegensprechanlage leiser drehen, da das
Würgen an Deck die Jungs in der Koje störte. JK, Tony, Nitro, Stu und ich
selbst waren diejenigen, die es am schlimmsten traf. Mittlerweile fühlen
wir uns schon wieder etwas besser, und unser Appetit kommt allmählich
zurück. Aber unser Vorrat an Toilettenpapier hat sich ernsthaft
verkleinert.“
Southampton, England, May 7th, 2002 2200 GMT
Will SEB’S Luck Hold
SEB is now in 4th place with a distance to finish of 540 nautical miles.
They are still the most southerly yacht and are currently one hundred
miles south of the leaders Illbruck but only sixty nine miles behind them.
At some time SEB will have to steer a more northerly course for La
Rochelle, the next stop in this the seventh leg of the Volvo Ocean Race,
only time will tell if their maverick course has paid off or not, lets
hope their luck holds out.
The first three yachts behind the leader have all lost an average of five
miles in the last six hours, however the last three boats in the pack have
lost an average of seven.
As the Fleet closes on Europe it is not long before the yachts cross their
outgoing path and physically complete their circumnavigation. However
there are still two short sprints to go and valuable points up for grabs,
in fact still one third of the total race points including this leg have
not been yet accounted for. So none of the crews can relax for a moment,
not until the final gun goes off. There is still a lot of hard work to go
and of course a ‘little bit of luck’.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 2202 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 47 13.24N 012 35.00W 471 98 11.5 245 0 0 09/05/02 11:44 49
2 AART 47 05.04N 013 39.84W 514 95 10.5 237 43 +5 09/05/02 15:11 41
3 TYCO 47 21.44N 013 44.80W 519 96 10.2 232 48 +8 09/05/02 15:31 33
4 TSEB 45 54.20N 014 13.76W 540 88 10.6 234 69 +5 09/05/02 17:15 26
5 AONE 47 20.04N 014 26.24W 547 93 10.4 239 76 +7 09/05/02 17:43 36
6 NEWS 47 23.80N 014 26.64W 547 92 10.3 239 76 +6 09/05/02 17:49 34
7 DJCE 46 54.84N 016 00.56W 610 88 10.4 233 139 +6 09/05/02 22:51 23
8 ATOO 44 38.96N 063 34.24W No Data
Southampton, England, May 7, 2002 1600 GMT
Almost Around The World
As the wind has veered further to the northeast, illbruck has corrected
her course slightly towards the south, which allows her to keep up the
pace while getting a better cover on SEB, approximately 90 miles to the
south. With a low-pressure system developing over the Iberian Peninsula,
the wind will back to the north and increase over the next two days.
However, the different weather models show slightly different predictions
for the weather development on the last 500 miles towards La Rochelle.
The distance left to sail is less than a Fastnet Race and Tyco’s and News
Corp’s navigators write that they are back in sprint mode, with lots of
food and coffee. Even though losing with every sked, djuice is still
hoping for a break towards the end of the race, if they just have the
right timing of the weather on their side, as skipper Knut Frostad wrote.
Over the next 24 hours the Volvo Ocean Race fleet will cross the waters
they sailed more than eight month ago. This will make their
circumnavigation complete, but the Volvo Ocean Race has two more legs left
to race.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 1554 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 47 23.60N 014 18.40W 541 97 11.1 245 0 0 09/05/02 11:13 49
2 AART 47 10.68N 015 14.24W 579 96 10.8 249 38 +2 09/05/02 14:12 41
3 TYCO 47 28.36N 015 16.76W 581 94 11 244 40 0 09/05/02 14:23 33
4 TSEB 45 51.68N 015 47.20W 605 82 10.4 248 64 +4 09/05/02 16:19 26
5 AONE 47 23.64N 016 00.20W 610 91 10.8 246 69 +1 09/05/02 16:41 36
6 NEWS 47 26.24N 016 00.92W 611 92 10.7 247 70 +3 09/05/02 16:44 34
7 DJCE 46 52.96N 017 34.08W 674 88 9.1 222 133 +12 09/05/02 21:50 23
8 ATOO 44 38.96N 063 34.24W 4512 0 0 152 3971 +66 No Data 10
Southampton, England, May 7, 2002 1000 GMT
Flu Strikes illbruck
The breeze has stabilised once again for this last stretch into La
Rochelle. The whole fleet is sailing in a stable northeasterly breeze of
10 to 15 knots. But as illbruck is constantly in more pressure, they are
sailing away from the rest of the fleet. ASSA ABLOY is sailing away from
Tyco and SEB, and News Corp and Amer Sports One are doing the same to
djuice. It is just the opposite of what happened when illbruck were first
to sail into the light air zone some days ago – it is just the perception
of it, which differs a little bit. When the whole fleet is gaining on the
leader, one is unhappy and many are happy. When the whole fleet loses on
the leader they are all unhappy and it is easy to put it down to unfair
luck for the leader.
Illbruck revealed today that a flu had struck them on the crossing and
several of the crew have been weakened by vomiting and general illness.
They are looking forward to make it to La Rochelle to get back their full
strength for the reindexing two legs.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 47 31.88N 015 55.36W 607 94 10.6 236 0 0 09/05/02 10:31 49
2 AART 47 17.00N 016 48.80W 643 96 10.2 231 36 +3 09/05/02 13:22 41
3 TYCO 47 32.80N 016 54.12W 647 98 9.8 225 40 +5 09/05/02 13:41 33
4 TSEB 45 43.16N 017 15.48W 667 91 9.9 237 60 +5 09/05/02 15:19 26
5 NEWS 47 28.28N 017 34.08W 674 101 9.7 220 67 +7 09/05/02 15:52 35
6 AONE 47 24.36N 017 35.08W 675 98 9.7 223 68 +7 09/05/02 15:52 35
7 DJCE 46 51.36N 018 53.20W 728 114 8.6 193 121 +17 09/05/02 20:12 23
8 ATOO 44 38.96N 063 34.24W 4512 0 0 152 3905 +62 No Data 10
Southampton, England, May 7, 2002 0400 GMT
Battling on in fluky conditions
After picking up some good speeds for a few hours, the Volvo Ocean Race
fleet have hit another wind hole on their dash across the Atlantic. It
has mean’t some good news for djuice who has managed to reduce their
distance to the leaders to 104 miles; they will be seriously hoping that
this weather pattern disappears before they too reach it, to avoid falling
further behind the fleet once again.
Elsewhere, Amer Sports One and News Corp locked in their own personal
battle have managed to halve the distance they were behind SEB over the
last six hours, now; they are just six miles behind her. Meanwhile over
on the other two yachts battling it out, ASSA ABLOY has managed to make a
little more distance over her rival Tyco, still holding onto second
position, a mere two miles ahead. This has also meant that she has made a
little on the leading illbruck too.
The last few hours of fluky wind shifts have made for trying times all
around the fleet, Gunnar Krantz on SEB has just written, ‘a few hours ago
we went through a small trough with a wind shift to the right of about 90
degrees. Two hours later, after sail changes, tacks and endless work of
shifting sails we were all, at that stage in the pouring rain, convinced
of that there must be another sport we can do. Now, when we are back on
track again we are already talking about new races......’ With a forecast
of some steadier winds, hopefully the fleet will start to make good
progess for La Rochelle once more.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 10, 0418 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 47 36.32N 017 26.28W 669 103 7.9 204 0 0 09/05/02 11:52 49
2 AART 47 23.28N 018 15.48W 702 116 8.7 205 33 -1 09/05/02 14:37 41
3 TYCO 47 40.68N 018 17.96W 704 102 7.9 197 35 0 09/05/02 14:46 33
4 TSEB 45 43.84N 018 37.60W 724 102 8.5 220 55 -3 09/05/02 16:28 26
5 NEWS 47 39.04N 018 56.08W 729 108 9.6 197 60 -10 09/05/02 16:57 35
6 AONE 47 32.08N 018 56.72W 730 102 9.3 207 61 -9 09/05/02 16:56 35
7 DJCE 47 11.60N 019 59.84W 773 89 11.3 174 104 -23 09/05/02 20:32 23
8 ATOO 44 38.96N 063 34.24W 4512 0 0 152 3843 +48 No Data 10
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