Oceanracing 2002 - Around Alone

Betreff: CLASS 2 LEADER TO TAKE LEG 3 VICTORY WITH 1,000M ADVANTAGE Absender: "Aroundalone" Empfänger: Datum: 15. Jan 2003 14:23 CLASS 2 LEADER TO TAKE LEG 3 VICTORY WITH 1,000M ADVANTAGE

OCEAN PLANET & PINDAR 2 MILES APART UNDER 50 MILES FROM FINISH
TELE-PRESS CONFERENCE WITH CLASS 2 LEADER
TAURANGA - MEDIA INFORMATION

Tiscali als Vierte in Tauranga
Photo: Roy Riley/Marinepics

Tauranga, New Zealand - 15th January 03. The countdown to the finish of Leg 3 has begun for Class 2 leader American Brad Van Liew, who will be bringing his rocket-ship Open 50 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America over the line within the next 10 hours under the landmark of Mount Maunganui in Tauranga, New Zealand. Over the course of the 7,200 nm leg, Van Liew has pushed out an incredible 1,050 mile advantage over his nearest rivals in Class 2 and is set to finish after spending 32 - 33 days in the Southern Ocean alone. This is the kind of performance worthy of the bigger siblings in the Class 1 fleet, two of which he has been trailing by only 3 -5 miles down the East coast of New Zealand.

There is no short of excitement for these last two yachts in Class 1 coming into the finish within sight of not only Class 2 leader Brad Van Liew but also of each other. Just two miles separates Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet and Emma Richards on Pindar.
Schwab has taken the inshore route a la Dalton, working the breeze off the land, as he is handicapped on starboard without a ballast tank. The light airs suit his narrower boat and he has sneaked ahead. "I have had very little sleep. I was putting in the third reef this morning when the fourth batten came out, and I had to lower the sail most of the way, climb part way up and pull out 20 feet of batten without dropping it in the drink. What I have seen of NZ is very beautiful. I need to finish this leg and set foot on it."
Richards' indexsail repair is one thing that has been holding together through the strong headwinds, which she has endured as much as the frustrating light airs over the last 24 hours. "Last night when we still had 25kts beating, one bad slamming wave destroyed the wind instrument at the top of the mast and that was the spare one, this and a compass fault basically took out my pilot so I was sitting there handsteering in these 'filthy' wavesÂ… so that was the beginning of the eventful night of 40kts trying to tack numerous times to get down the coast. No sleep except for a half hour this morning so I might take a nap on deck and wake with an alarm every 10 or 20 mins to check nothing has changed."
The rest of the last day has seen all three boats conversely struggle to get their boatspeed above 5 knots, whilst tacking around the islands and coastline towards Tauranga, New Zealand. The latest ETA for all three boats is at the earliest 6 o'clock in the morning local time but if the wind does not fill in at all overnight it could be more like mid to late morning. Tauranga is preparing to give all three skippers the warmest welcome out on the water, at the pontoons and in the WesternBay Finance Race Village.

After tacking into light headwinds throughout the night, Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti finally brought his Lombard designed Open 60 Tiscali over the finish line fourth during a stunning sunrise over Mount Maunganui in Tauranga at 05:30:19 local time on 14th January (16:30:19 GMT 13th Jan). Visibly withdrawn from lack of food & water and in desperate need of sleep, Simone was simply happy to have put this leg behind him.
* TELE-PRESS CONFERENCE - BRAD VAN LIEW / TOMMY HILFIGER FREEDOM AMERICA
Time: 2:00PM EST, Thursday, January 16th, 2003. Join from your desk by dialling:
- Toll free from US : (800) 650-8824
- From outside the US : +1 (703) 736-7228
Conference # 6380105 Estimated time: 45 minutes

POSITIONS AT 06:00GMT 14th JANUARY (19:00 pm LOCAL TIME) 2003 Track the Around Alone fleet with Raytech Navigator 4.1 - go to www.aroundalone.com positions page and follow the link at the top of the chart.
Leg 3 Provisional Rankings
1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux finished at 22:24:43 GMT 8th JAN 03 after 25 days, 12 hours, 24 minutes, 43 seconds
2. Solidaires finished at 09:03:54 GMT 9th JAN 03 after 26 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 6 seconds
3. Hexagon finished at 06:38:18 GMT 14th JAN 03 after 30 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes, 18 seconds
4. Tiscali finished at 16:30:19 GMT 14th JAN after 31 days, 6 hours, 30 minutes, 19 seconds

Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
5. Ocean Planet, 36 45.000 S, 176 00.410 E, 34.61 nm, 4.32 kt, 123 Â°T, 51.57 nm
6. Pindar, 36 43.120 S, 176 00.530 E, 34.16 nm, 4.27 kt, 150 Â°T, 53.42 nm

Class 2
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Tommy Hilfiger, 36 39.430 S, 176 01.430 E, 34.80 nm, 4.35 kt, 140 Â°T, 56.98 nm 2. Everest Horizontal, 43 50.000 S, 160 01.870 E, 58.45 nm, 7.31 kt, 49 Â°T, 1105.33 nm
3. Spirit of Canada, 42 57.860 S, 157 13.600 E, 60.57 nm, 7.58 kt, 67 Â°T, 1174.36 nm
4. Spirit of yukoh, 45 24.200 S, 155 11.000 E, 39.53 nm, 4.94 kt, 35 Â°T, 1327.23 nm
5. BTC Velocity, 44 13.940 S, 142 15.580 E, 53.86 nm, 6.74 kt, 99 Â°T, 1808.30 nm

International Media Relations:
Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - NZL mobile: +64 (0)21 706 519
Local Media Relations - Tauranga, NZL
Julie Chadwick, Tauranga Around Alone Ltd - Email: julie@taa.co.nz - Tel: +64 (25) 595 083 Website: http://www.taa.co.nz
WesternBay Finance Media Centre - Tauranga Bridge Marina Tel: +64 (0) 7 572 3069 Opening times: from 0900hrs - 1730hrs local time until 10th February 2003 Telecomms: network provided by Telecom NZ. There is a computer available for press loaded with Raytech 4.1 software to track the fleet and access internet. Accreditation: contact Julie Chadwick (details above) prior to arrival.
Around Alone TV - APP Broadcast
Andrew Hawthorn - Email: ahawthorn@appbroadcast.com - NZL mobile: +64 (0) 21 352 169 APP Broadcast London Office - Tel: +44 (0)208 964 4992
Official Photography - Marinepics International distribution: Ali McKichan - Email: info@marinepics.com - Tel: +44 (0) 1489 573753 Production & New Zealand distribution: Roy Riley - Email: royspics@aol.com
Official Schools' Programme: HSBC Glocal Education Challenge - www.education.hsbc.com