Wochenbericht - 1
Southampton, England, Week 1, Leg 8
Closest Ever Ocean Race Finish In Gothenburg
A rude awakening greeted the fleet after such perfect conditions at the
start in La Rochelle. As they headed out into the notorious unruly waters
of the Bay of Biscay swelling seas and 40 knots of gale force winds on the
nose provided for a rough ride. Matt Humphries, watch leader on News Corp
wrote: “What a battle ... the fleet within a few miles of each other
rounding the notorious Ushant, travelling at 20 knots in 30 knots of wind
blowing from the west. We have had a tight race since the start and we are
soaking wet after a slog to this left hand corner. Very unpleasant
conditions have resulted in some of the crew spending time on the white
telephone to god. We look forward to a scrap with the fleet as we fight
our way down the English Channel.”
Skipper on djuice, Knut Frostad, also reported of a tough first night, but
said their index focus is to push hard to avoid falling too far behind when
the front-runners reach the strong currents and gnarly waves around the
northwest tip of France. “Fetching is not our strong side – but it’s only
going to last another eight hours – thank god.”
Crewmembers onboard ASSA ABLOY recovered well from their incident on the
start line when they managed to snag the underwater holding line on the
start buoy around their keel. At the gun, with the wind perpendicular to
the course, ASSA ABLOY got caught in the line of the leeward starting mark
with full speed. It took the frustrated sailors at least eight minutes to
get going again while dragging the mark. First bowman Jason Carrington
took his foul weather gear off and jumped in the cold water to free the
rudder of the line.
At that moment the boat was head to wind doing maybe two to three knots.
But the line was caught around the keel bulb instead of the rudder.
Quickly Richard Mason jumped in. The young New Zealander disappeared
underwater and decided to swim to the trailing mark and cut the anchor
line off the mark. With all onboard again the boat was accelerating. To
make things even more dramatic for the crew of ASSA ABLOY, they had to
execute a 360-degree penalty turn for hitting the mark or any part of it.
Even with their eight-minute deficit they have managed to pick their way
back through the fleet and are currently in fifth position, neck and neck
with Team Tyco. There is no doubt that skipper Neal McDonald will have his
sights firmly set on overall race leaders illbruck – a mere one mile
ahead.
Amer Sports One was the first yacht that passed Ushant and immediately
sped up when the spinnaker went up. As the other yachts were still slower
on the tighter reach, the gap widened to three miles.
“Since rounding Ushant off the north coast of France, ASSA ABLOY has done
well to play the right hand side of the track picking up better current
and better breeze,” wrote navigator Mark Rudiger from on board,
continuing, “we were a little miffed as to why the fleet kept pushing left
and put a loose cover on them just in case the left hand shift won out.
But fortunately we stuck to our guns and now lead by a mere mile over our
old sparing partner Tyco.“ In fact ASSA ABLOY rounded the island in sixth
position and made good five places to lead the fleet neck and neck with
Tyco at 0400 GMT of the third day.
The North Sea with its many sandbanks was challenging the navigators’
skills. Campbell Field, navigator on News Corp explains the situation:
“Currents have to be negotiated here, however each yacht is using the same
materials and tools for modelling tides and currents, and very similar
weather sources, so each yacht will be making similar decisions. The small
shifts in wind are where the gains are to be made and lost.
“Gone are the days of rounding countries and continents, we now have to
negotiate buoys, and on top of that, a small lighthouse on a Norwegian
island just south of Arundel, with very limited room to manoeuvre.
Hopefully we will pass through in fair conditions during daylight, as
there are a number of unlit marks and hazards. Thank god for modern day
GPS and digital charting to aid navigation. Even so, it could be extremely
hazardous to pass through these areas with bad weather and darkness, and
with such a highly competitive race, not entering and missing a mark
resulting in disqualification is definitely not an option”, Cam continued.
SEB’s skipper Gunnar Krantz reported some technical problems: “Two
technical problems the first day. First we broke a jib halyard, which was
easily fixed. Then we found problems with the wind instruments. It became
very evident when rounding Ushant that something was wrong. We had no
accurate numbers on the wind at all. It seemed to be the cable in the mast
that was the problem. We have two cables run, one as a spare, and both are
damaged somehow. Most likely it was when we broke the halyard that the
cables got damaged. Still working on the problem, maybe we can find a
solution.”
Amer Sports Too was trailing the fleet by over 100 miles when passing
Dover, most of the distance was lost during the previous night, when the
all female crew around skipper Lisa McDonald went closer to the English
coast, while the other yachts stayed well offshore. With the area of low
pressure over the British Isles, the wind got less the closer they sailed
to the coast. This morning they were close enough to the Isle of Wight to
spot the white rocks of the island’s coast. New Zealander Campbell Field
from News Corp reported on the feelings of his English crew mates: “Some
of the Poms [English] on board are glad of the sight of old blighty off
the port bow, some even twitching at the thought that we were within 55 nm
of the Pier View [Pub] in Cowes, could almost taste the beer.”
In the shallow waters of the North Sea, all crews report trouble when
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,” wrote skipper John Kostecki.
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.”
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 continued to trail the fleet.
During the third night at sea, 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.
10 miles northwest of the Skagen lighthouse ASSA ABLOY ran into a more
headed breeze than the rest of the fleet and ASSA ABLOY’s two-mile lead
started to shrink immediately. The difference in wind direction was as
much as 20 degrees, hard on the wind, with no possibility to luff up to
compensate for the shift. Unfortunately for ASSA ABLOY the Skagen
peninsula blocked the direct route to Gothenburg and ASSA ABLOY had to
tack at one time to avoid grounding. They decided to wait until the very
last moment and tacked at the 10-meter depth line, close to the beach.
Eventually they passed the bows of chasing yachts illbruck and Tyco by a
few hundred metres. Amer Sports One took advantage of a wind shift,
decided to take an even higher risk and went closer inshore. This
manoeuvre has put the first five yachts within a mile.
Effectively there was a restart at the peninsula of Skagen. Spectators on
the water called it an extraordinary match race on the last miles of the
Volvo Ocean Race.
The pressure on ASSA ABLOY was immense, as Mark Rudiger wrote: “What a
day. Holy cow. You could cut the tension with a knife and I might even
resort to a little drinking after this one. Magnus (Olsson) is running
around like a cat on hot tin roof trying to make up his mind which way to
go. Yesterday when SEB was ahead for a little while, we had to sedate him
and lash him in his bunk. Klabbe [Klas Nylof] is keeping his cool, but his
eyes show an intensity that is a sure sign of an explosion waiting to go
off. The rest of us aren’t much better. “ In the close call at Skagen the
explosion could have easily gone off.
Just 28 miles behind djuice’s skipper Knut Frostad was praying for another
chance like he had in Rio: “Our weather files shows less wind towards
Sweden. God, please make it even less. We desperately need a parking lot
for the leaders. I promise to pay all my parking tickets if the wind gods
please give us a little hand right now. Is this so much to ask for?”
ASSA ABLOY got their third victory in the Volvo Ocean Race in Gothenburg
after being on top of the podium in Auckland and Miami. They led the way
into their home base on a clear, crisp and beautiful night.
At the Turbaduren light that marks the entrance into the Gothenburg
archipelago ASSA ABLOY, Tyco, illbruck and News Corp were still within a
mile of each other. Amer Sports One a mile further back managed to get in
phase with the wind shifts and was able to sail a shorter distance to the
next waypoint and once again was in direct contact with the leaders.
Eventually leg eight of the Volvo Ocean Race was decided in the last two
miles of the 1000+ miles the yachts sailed from La Rochelle to Gothenburg.
ASSA ABLOY’s victory has kept the overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race
open to the ultimate leg from Sweden to Germany. If ASSA ABLOY wins the
next leg, illbruck must not finish worse than fifth to secure overall
victory.
When the first five boats came into sight of Gothenburg, literally
hundreds of spectator boats went out to welcome the fleet. Among them
there was even a 505 racing dinghy with the spinnaker up in the dark. In
Eriksberg, the part of Gothenburg where the Volvo Ocean Race village is
located, sailing fans fill the piers to welcome their local heroes. Even
though a Swedish team won, British skippers claim first and third and on
the second placed Tyco a third of the crew originates from the UK.
Less than an hour after the winner, a disappointed crew on the green
racing yacht SEB crossed the finish line in sight of their home base in
Gothenburg. After the arrival, Gurra Krantz, the unlucky skipper said on
the dock: “The last two days have been very frustrating. I don’t know why.
It doesn’t seem to be our regatta somehow! Instead of bouncing the ball
in between the goal posts, we are bouncing out all the time.” With eleven
points behind the three boats sharing 40 points, SEB cannot better their
overall position on the last leg. Djuice is just four points behind and
could snatch sixth place from SEB.
Another two and a half hours passed until djuice crossed the line. All
hopes for a parking place for the leaders reindexed hopes and the crew
around skipper Knut Frostad had to accept the inevitable fate of seventh
place. “We tried hard, but basically we were not fast enough. We’ve seen
it a lot of times now, it is not new. It’s tough,” Knut admitted on the
dock, continuing “Although I regret that we didn’t have light wind, I was
praying, “please God give us some light wind”. With fourteen points on
Amer Sports Too, they cannot finish the Volvo Ocean Race in last position.
After experiencing a rough and hard time on the early stages of this leg
the all female crew on Amer Sports Too sailed into Gothenburg this morning
at 0950 GMT. They crossed the finish line at the entrance of Gothenburg
harbour in a westerly breeze of around 12 knots. Even though it was
daytime, the Gothenburg citizens welcomed the Finnish / Italian team with
fireworks as they approached the Volvo Ocean Race village in Eriksberg.
Overall position after five legs pending protests
PS Yacht Leg 3 points Arrival Time Elapsed Time Combined Time PO Overall
Pos.
1 AART 8 29 MAY 02 22:06:38 004d 07h 06m 38s 126d 05h 01m 06s 49 2
2 TYCO 7 29 MAY 02 22:08:54 004d 07h 08m 54s ---- 40 3
3 NEWS 6 29 MAY 02 22:10:34 004d 07h 10m 34s 125d 13h 37m 04s 40 3
4 ILBK 5 29 MAY 02 22:11:55 004d 07h 11m 55s 122d 00h 53m 39s 54 1
5 AONE 4 29 MAY 02 22:13:28 004d 07h 13m 28s 123d 04h 25m 05s 40 3
6 TSEB 3 29 MAY 02 22:57:50 004d 07h 57m 50s ---- 29 6
7 DJCE 2 30 MAY 02 01:19:58 004d 10h 19m 58s 131d 02h 41m 45s 25 7
8 ATOO 1 30 MAY 02 09:50:35 004d 18h 50m 35s --- 11 8
Leaderboard
PS Yacht Points
1 illbruck 54
2 ASSA ABLOY 49
3 Amer Sports One 40
4 News Corp 40
5 Tyco 40
6 SEB 29
7 DJCE 25
8 Amer Sports Too 11
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
|
