Betreff: FROM HIGH TO LOW ON THE ROAD TO NEWPORT
Absender: "Aroundalone"
Datum: 25. Apr 2003 18:24
FROM HIGH TO LOW ON THE ROAD TO NEWPORT
ETA'S, LATEST POSITIONS
OVERALL POINTS AND ELAPSED TIMES AFTER 4 LEGS
Media Contact: Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - UK Mobile: +44 (0)7887 643 583
Southampton, England - 25th April 03. According to the Raymarine files (www.raymarine.com) the weather in the North Atlantic over the 2000 miles between the Around Alone fleet and the finish in Newport RI is becoming clearer; in the next two days the Bermuda High is generating steady 15 knot Northeasterly to easterly winds on the course, with a low pressure system moving in from the West to bring South-southwesterly winds later on. The route is cut out for Class 1 leaders Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux and Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali - head directly west now around the bottom of the High, and then turn sharp right and head north and downwind with the incoming depression.
Swiss skipper Stamm is forever serene and cautious about his 280 mile lead: "For now, the weather is back to normal; having said that, I've been looking back to see what is going on behind me. Our boats are very fast. You get stuck for 24 hours in a calm zone and your lead just melts away, like snow in the sun." Bianchetti is following the leader and cutting across the high pressure, but doing so earlier in order to avoid the stronger winds but indextain boatspeed, as he monitors his mast track damage and the three rivals flanked behind him.
For the chasing pack a steady easterly is kicking in to compensate for the calms which have been the curse of Thierry Dubois on Solidaires and Emma Richards on Pindar over to the East. Boatspeeds for all of Class 1 are levelling out at around 10 knots, and American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet is still being dealt the good cards to keep him in 3rd place just 80 miles ahead of formidable French circumnavigator Dubois: "A long line of black clouds jumped on us just after sunrise. They brought torrential rain and a dramatic wind change. Right now we are going upwind with a reef and a full ballast tank! I'm sure it will drop off once this squall passes, but we should at least be in steadier winds for a while now."
As if the American contingent in the fleet know something the Europeans don't, Class 2 leaders Brad Van Liew and Tim Kent are on Schwab's side of the course, and racing amongst the Class 1 fleet. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America is just 15 miles from his 60ft friend in Class 1 but currently in calmer winds than the rest of his own class. Van Liew is squeezing every drop of boatspeed out of his racing machine as he needs to keep Everest Horizontal from eating into his lead: "The transition area between the trade winds and the weather patterns of the north has begun and this is key in the very tactical push to the finish. One wrong decision could allow Tim to sneak by. I am definitely looking over my shoulder and trying to focus Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America on a strategy to negotiate the upcoming mine field."
Both Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of yukoh and and Alan Paris on BTC Velocity will no doubt be enjoying their race from behind as these 2 Open 40's clock up the best 24hr runs compared even to the Class 1 leaders, covering just shy of 200 miles a day.
Weather - The Raymarine 3 day weather forecast and map is posted up online at www.aroundalone.com every other day.
ETA for first boat: April 29th - 30th 2003. The ETA's will be updated every three days, based on the performance data calculated by RayTech 4.1 navigational software supplied by Official Race Partners Raymarine (www.raymarine.com).
POSITIONS AT 1400GMT 25th APRIL 2003
You can track the race boats using RayTech 4.1 navigational software by going to the Positions page online and clicking on the link to the Raymarine website at the top of the index chart.
Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux 26 49.840 N, 56 07.240 W, 49.63 nm, 6.19 kt, 279 °T, 1155.44 nm
2. Tiscali 22 35.400 N, 53 50.560 W, 65.38 nm, 8.16 kt, 280 °T, 1434.91 nm
3. Ocean Planet 18 27.400 N, 56 56.520 W, 37.36 nm, 4.67 kt, 314 °T, 1565.66 nm
4. Solidaires 20 21.400 N, 50 37.840 W, 47.54 nm, 5.94 kt, 325 °T, 1646.93 nm
5. Pindar 20 28.440 N, 48 15.760 W, 67.88 nm, 8.49 kt, 331 °T, 1720.44 nm
Class 2
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Tommy Hilfiger 18 24.715 N, 56 19.327 W, 44.65 nm, 5.58 kt, 359 °T, 1583.29 nm
2. Everest Horizontal 17 05.250 N, 54 41.522 W, 67.41 nm, 8.41 kt, 356 °T, 1695.96 nm
3. Spirit of yukoh 15 16.141 N, 48 33.964 W, 65.18 nm, 8.15 kt, 324 °T, 1966.27 nm
4. BTC Velocity 10 33.698 N, 46 26.384 W, 65.14 nm, 8.14 kt, 321 °T, 2271.93 nm
* Spirit of Canada (Leg 4) at 13:00 GMT - 31 07 140 S, 40 39 000 W
Overall Results in Points / Total Elapsed Time after 4 Legs
Class 1
1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux - 39pts / 97 days 23 hrs 7 mins 13 secs
2 Solidaires - 37pts / 98 days 9 hrs 57 mins 47 secs
3 Pindar - 27pts / 110 days 16 hrs 30 mins 23 secs
4 Tiscali - 26pts / 140 days 0 hrs 51 mins 41 secs
5 Ocean Planet - 23pts / 138 days 19 hrs 5 mins 45 secs
Class 2
1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America - 40pts / 128 days 0 hrs 0 mins 54 secs
2 Everest Horizontal - 35 pts / 148 days 0 hrs 15 mins 41 secs
3 *Spirit of Canada - 25 pts / 174 days 6hrs 47 mins 44 secs
4 Spirit of yukoh - 28 pts / 155 days 23 hrs 24 mins 44 secs
5 BTC Velocity - 23 pts / 174 days 6 hrs 47 mins 44 secs
* Spirit of Canada points & elapsed time after 3 legs only, 3rd place ranking based on his completion of Leg 4.
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Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - Mobile: +44 (0)7887 643 583
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