Southampton, England, May 28, 2002 Day 4
Back Down
In the shallow waters of the North Sea, all crews report trouble with
catching seaweed with their keels, rudders and engine struts. Getting
anything wrapped around one of your boat’s appendages is the nightmare of
every racing sailor. The flow of water around the fin that has been
perfectly smoothed before hitting the water is destroyed and a lot of drag
is added, resulting in a considerable loss of boat speed and an increase
in leeway.
On powerful boats like the V.O.60s the loss of speed might be as little as
a few tenths of a knot, but in the fierce competition between the yachts,
no-one can afford such a disadvantage. Therefore the crews are working
frantically to get rid of whatever sticks to their yacht. Some have fit
special weed cutting devices to their keel, others carry weed sticks they
can use to clear the keel or rudder when going slow, but most report that
they have to sail backwards to get clear. Reports about ‘backing down’
came in from several yachts.
Brad Jackson from Tyco explains a typical procedure: “After going slowly
for a short while we decided that we had to clear it off which meant
hoisting headsail and dropping the spinnaker before rounding up head to
wind and going backwards. Normally this is enough to clear the foils but
in the murky North Sea we had no easy way of knowing that we are 100%
clean… It is very annoying to turn around and point 180 degrees from where
you want to go and watch the boats behind you take away your lead that you
have been working on for two days. We lost first place to ASSA ABLOY but
at least we were going 100% again.”
Race leader illbruck hasn’t been spared the experience: “Also, seaweed has
played a big role in this leg so far. All the teams have performed "back
downs". This normally means dropping your headsail or spinnaker and
turning the boat into the wind, which allows the boat to stop, and slowly
go in reverse for a few moments to let the sea weed come off the keel,
strut, and rudder. Each back down move you make you can lose anywhere from
0.5 to 2 miles. Making the back down move could mean losing 2-4 places.
That is one of the reasons the boats are changing positions all of the
time on this leg.
“On our last back down, we had seaweed wrapped around our strut, so Tony
went for a swim in the chilly water of the North Sea to clear it off. No
one was excited about swimming this morning, but Tony, the youngest
crewmember onboard, stuck his hand up and said, ‘I will do it’ and
everyone else onboard was relieved and happy that Tony went swimming,”
wrote skipper John Kostecki.
While most of the crews accept it as a natural occurrence, Mark Rudiger,
navigator on ASSA ABLOY had a more to say on the matter: “Why is it that
just when things are going your way, something comes along to foul it up?
After fighting hard to hold the lead with Tyco, and holding off the rest,
playing the tides and gybing on the shifts, we came out of Dover Strait in
good shape. The boats behind had gained a lot as predicted because we hit
the big ebb first and were sailing into dying breeze. They got out of jail
free. On top of that, all of a sudden, we slowed down noticeably and the
fleet was all over us.”
While the other yachts had to free their keels and rudders from seaweed,
ASSA ABLOY’s obstacles were of a different nature: “Magnus [Olsson] came
up on deck shaking his head, and exclaimed in his drawn out Swedish accent
‘you won’t believe what was on the keel.’ Everyone looked around waiting
for some one to guess ’three big fishes.’ He laughed spreading his arms as
far as he could. We all looked suspicious of another Magnus Olsson fish
story, but Richard and Sidney [Gavignet] confirmed having watched through
the scope. I had to agree that looking at the performance factor on the
graph, it went up 6%. So now after 48 hrs of giving everything for a few
boat lengths, it’s back to the grinder for more boat lengths to gain
back.”
On Amer Sports One Dee Smith had to deal with another problem. Having lost
their early lead, the confidence in the design of the red and grey yacht
faded as the competition overtook: “It has been tough for us on the
non-Farr [Yacht Design] boat. We had a good lead entering the English
Channel; just to see the Farr [Yacht Design] boats come up and pass us
over the last 350 miles.”
Still confident about what lies ahead, Dee continues: “We feel very good
on how we are sailing just to be this close. Our time will have to come
when the wind gets light and tricky. I know the race won't be this close
at the finish. Getting into the marks in Norway without any real wind
will be very hard, and there it just might not pay to get there first.”
Djuice and Amer Sports Too continue to trail the fleet. Djuice is looking
forward to the lighter conditions off the Norwegian coast, where they hope
to close in on the fleet and repeat the good result they had into Rio at
the end of leg four. Now 160 miles behind the leading yachts, hopes for a
good position at the end of this leg are fading away for Amer Sports Too.
Last night SEB has split from the index pack, sailing a parallel course
about ten miles to the northwest. For the other yachts it is what John
Kostecki called a “drag race” where pure boat speed counts. The yachts are
expected to round Torungen Lighthouse off the Norwegian coast tomorrow
early morning and to pass Skagen at noon.
//ends
Expected arrival times in Gothenburg, local Swedish time: May 29: AART
1550; ILBK 1553; TYCO 1555; NEWS 16:00; SEB 16:15; AONE 1625; DJCE 1822;
May 30: ATOO 0621
Wednesday, May 29, 1300GMT (1400BST) live chat with SEB skipper Gunnar
‘Gurra’ Krantz at www.volvooceanrace.org/community/chat . Please submit
your questions now.
Southampton, England, May 28th, 2002 2200 GMT
Free For All
The Volvo Ocean Fleet has seventy four nautical miles to go to the
Torungen Lighthouse off Arendal on the Norwegian coast. They are all still
extremely close, with only six miles separating the first six contestants.
The leaders have not been out of sight of each other since leaving La
Rochelle, each watching the others every move. ASSA ABLOY reported that it
seems as though the front runners are separated by boat lengths not miles.
When the turning point of the lighthouse has been rounded there will be an
one hundred mile dash to see who can get to Goteborg first and at this
stage it is still a ‘free for all’ as to which yacht will cross the finish
line of the eighth leg in front of the others.
The yachts are currently sailing with twelve knots of wind from the east
and making around nine knots boat speed. Amer Sports Too has made up ten
miles on the fleet leaders in the last three hours, now trailing by 138
but indextaining 13 knots of boat speed.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 2202 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 57 27.92N 007 15.60E 186 40 9.4 264 0 0 29/05/02 14:54 49
2 ILBK 57 27.88N 007 14.28E 186 40 9.6 264 0 -1 29/05/02 14:57 56
3 TYCO 57 28.08N 007 12.76E 186 39 9.6 263 0 -2 29/05/02 14:59 39
4 NEWS 57 25.64N 007 14.48E 188 39 9.4 262 2 -1 29/05/02 15:05 39
5 TSEB 57 28.92N 007 03.64E 189 42 9.5 261 3 -1 29/05/02 15:13 30
6 AONE 57 22.64N 007 09.12E 192 39 9.5 260 6 -1 29/05/02 15:28 39
7 DJCE 57 03.28N 006 53.48E 212 39 9.3 260 26 -1 29/05/02 17:20 25
8 ATOO 55 39.72N 004 39.48E 324 39 12.5 267 138 -10 30/05/02 03:28 11
Southampton, England, May 28, 2002 1600 GMT
Vikings On The Way Home
No major changes can be reported over the last six hours. The yachts are
still tightly bunched, crossing the Jutland Bank 65 miles west of the
Danish indexland. SEB regretted their earlier move to the northwest as they
encountered lighter winds than the rest of the fleet, still they are lying
only four miles behind leading yachts ASSA ABLOY and illbruck. Tyco, Amer
Sports One and djuice are hoping to improve their result for this leg in
the lighter conditions that are lying ahead.
The boat speeds have dropped to under 10 knots as the yachts are sailing
on the wind toward Torungen Lighthouse, the waypoint they will round early
tomorrow morning off the Norwegian coast. Roger Nilson from Amer Sports
One reported that it is a very special feeling to come home to Scandinavia
in a round the world race.
Amer Sports Too rounded the oilrig that was a waypoint in the middle of
the North Sea at 1040 this morning and is closing the distance on the
fleet in stronger wind. The first yachts are expected to arrive in
Gothenburg at 1400GMT (1600 local Swedish time) tomorrow.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 1554 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 56 42.64N 006 05.96E 245 40 9.9 279 0 0 29/05/02 14:08 49
2 ILBK 56 42.48N 006 03.80E 245 40 9.8 279 0 -1 29/05/02 14:12 56
3 TYCO 56 42.72N 006 02.56E 246 41 9.8 278 1 0 29/05/02 14:14 39
4 NEWS 56 39.48N 006 06.96E 247 41 9.8 278 2 0 29/05/02 14:19 39
5 TSEB 56 44.88N 005 49.64E 249 42 10 277 4 -1 29/05/02 14:31 30
6 AONE 56 37.76N 005 59.16E 251 43 10 274 6 -1 29/05/02 14:41 39
7 DJCE 56 19.28N 005 47.88E 269 45 11.2 272 24 -4 29/05/02 16:22 25
8 ATOO 54 37.12N 003 26.04E 399 32 11.7 240 154 -6 30/05/02 04:10 11
Southampton, England, May 27, 2002 1000 GMT
Anything Can Happen
Early tomorrow morning the leading yachts of the Volvo Ocean Race are
expected to sight Torungen Lighthouse off the Norwegian coast. At the
moment, the waypoint is 190 miles in front of ASSA ABLOY and the expected
average speed should be about 11 knots.
This morning, SEB was the only yacht to split away from the direct course,
choosing a parallel track 10 miles to the northwest of the other yachts.
For some time it seemed to pay off, but since the last report, SEB lost
three places on the leader-board. Nevertheless, in the lighter conditions
ahead there could be more wind and a better angle where they are. Dee
Smith, navigator of Amer Sports One wrote: “Getting into the marks in
Norway without any real wind will be very hard, and there it just might
not pay to get there first…anything can happen.”
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 55 54.60N 004 55.76E 306 38 11.4 296 0 -3 29/05/02 13:47 49
2 ILBK 55 53.84N 004 53.88E 308 39 12 296 2 -4 29/05/02 13:54 56
3 TYCO 55 54.24N 004 52.36E 308 38 11.3 295 2 -3 29/05/02 13:55 39
4 NEWS 55 51.72N 004 55.24E 309 36 11.7 294 3 -4 29/05/02 14:00 39
5 TSEB 56 00.84N 004 32.40E 310 45 9.1 298 4 +4 29/05/02 14:07 30
6 AONE 55 52.04N 004 42.32E 313 39 10.8 291 7 -2 29/05/02 14:24 39
7 DJCE 55 29.16N 004 31.36E 335 41 11.5 280 29 -3 29/05/02 16:23 25
8 ATOO 53 35.28N 002 31.84E 469 17 10.7 210 163 -1 30/05/02 04:35 11
Southampton, England, May 28, 2002 0400 GMT
First Signs of a division.
For the first time on this leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, the fleet has
started to separate as each navigator and tactician looks to maximise
their potential. They all have different ideas on how best to head for
the Norwegian Coast, whilst searching for as many “overtaking” areas as
possible. This is reflected in the leader board over the last few hours,
we no longer have a drag race with everyone heading on the exact same
course as we have had for the first couple of days this leg. Now, on one
side of the fleet is News Corp making a heading of 043 degrees, a more
easterly route than the rest of the fleet, whilst on the western side of
the leading pack SEB is heading much further north, and holding off
putting in so much in the easterly direction at present.
In the middle of this divide ASSA ABLOY has managed to come through the
middle to take the lead, whilst Tyco and illbruck are currently covering
each other for third place, less than one mile apart.
Despite the fact that this is a short leg, the leading group only have 375
miles to run, all the crews will be looking forward to arriving in
Gothenburg, and will probably be even more exhausted than if they had
sailed through the Southern Ocean again. If most racing sailors are tired
after a hard day of racing, these crews will be thoroughly drained by the
time they reach port having achieved several hard days of match racing,
but there is still all to play for, and no one will be slowing up on the
pace until the finish gun has sounded.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 0407 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 AART 55 01.36N 003 38.56E 375 26 12.8 289 0 0 29/05/02 13:55 49
2 TSEB 55 05.68N 003 27.44E 376 20 13.3 293 1 0 29/05/02 13:58 33
3 ILBK 55 00.52N 003 37.00E 377 29 12.6 290 2 +1 29/05/02 14:01 55
4 TYCO 55 00.68N 003 36.48E 377 28 12.5 288 2 +1 29/05/02 14:02 38
5 NEWS 54 55.12N 003 43.32E 379 33 11.9 286 4 +2 29/05/02 14:13 38
6 AONE 54 56.72N 003 30.68E 382 23 12.4 284 7 +2 29/05/02 14:30 39
7 DJCE 54 34.80N 003 16.08E 404 28 11.2 275 29 +4 29/05/02 16:33 25
8 ATOO 52 32.44N 002 15.20E 533 33 12.3 194 158 +3 30/05/02 04:14 11
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