zur Übersicht Betreff: VAN LIEW TAKES CLASS 2 VICTORY; CLASS 1 OVERALL RANKINGS COMPLETE Absender: "Aroundalone" Empfänger: redaktion@segel.de Datum: 06. May 2003 12:01 4th May 03 VAN LIEW TAKES CLASS 2 VICTORY; CLASS 1 OVERALL RANKINGS COMPLETE BRAD VAN LIEW AND TOMMY HILFIGER FREEDOM AMERICA TAKE VICTORY IN CLASS 2 CLASS 1 OVERALL RANKINGS DETERMINED WITH PINDAR'S ARRIVAL SPIRIT OF CANADA TO FINISH IN SALVADOR TONIGHT ETA'S, FINISH LINE & LATEST POSITIONS OVERALL RANKINGS/POINTS AND ELAPSED TIMES AFTER LEGS 4 & 5 Media Contact: Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - USA Mobile: +1 401 225 2462 ETA Tim Kent/Everest Horizontal @ 07:00hrs local time 5th May 03. Brad van Liew vor dem 5.Etappensieg Southampton, England - 4th May 03. A divinely orchestrated orange sunrise greeted Open 50 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America when Class 2 American skipper Brad Van Liew crossed the finish line in Newport at 05:53:58 local time (09:53:58 GMT). His final 24hrs of the 28,000 mile Around Alone race had been one of Van Liew's worst in his entire career, as he explained in his final log: "I have 40 knots on the nose. The waves are coming from every direction. On deck the boat is so sideways that the coach roof is in the water. I have not slept in 2 days. I feel like I am going to be sick or start hallucinating. This is not a good place to be, but there is zero possibility of sleeping right now." But Van Liew, the only veteran of Around Alone in this edition, has now written the next page in the history books of the race, as the only American skipper to have won all the legs of the race, and by quite a margin, thereby scoring the full 50 points to take overall victory in Class 2. His Open 50 was always immaculately prepared and often found racing amidst the larger Open 60 class, notably arriving just 3 days behind Class 1 winner Bernard Stamm in the final leg. This remarkable achievement places Van Liew squarely among the best solo sailors in the world. The Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America campaign has been very professionally run from the day they announced their partnership with Tommy Hilfiger, and this has been the secret to Van Liew's success. And now the overall rankings for Class 1 of Around Alone have finally been confirmed after a close and unpredictable short leg, which kept the suspense until the end. French skipper Thierry Dubois finished his last ever solo circumnavigation yesterday, when he crossed the line on Solidaires at 19:54:01 GMT (15:54:01 local time) in a moderate easterly breeze, which allowed him to hoist his Amnesty International spinnaker painted by children in each each port for the one and only time during the race: "For me, this was a symbol that I have carried the message of human rights around the world, and come to the end of my ten year project with Amnesty International." In finishing third for this leg, overtaking Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet in the last 24hrs, not only has Dubois secured the second place on the overall podium in Around Alone 2002-03, but also completed his first race around the world out of three attempts. Consequently, Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti finally knew that he had taken the third spot on the podium for Class 1, as all he had to do was to put one boat between Tiscali and Pindar to overtake Richards in overall points. He actually finished with a two point advantage over Emma, because next to arrive at 03:35:57 GMT on 4th May (12:35:57 3rd May local time) was American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet. Schwab was delighted with his performance in the 5th leg, holding third place and keeping ahead of the formidable Frenchman for the entire leg until the last and nasty weather system saw Dubois better placed to shoot over the top of the narrower Tom Wylie Open 60. Schwab's first solo circumnavigation was a campaign of simultaneous non-stop fundraising and sailing. It had not been easy, as after a great first few days in the top three, the boom on Ocean Planet broke mid-way across the Atlantic in Leg 1. On Leg 4 he broke the second boom forcing a stop in the Falkland Islands. With his unstayed rig, narrow design and unconventional mechanics, Bruce was still dealing with teething problems right up until Cape Horn. "Ocean Planet is a work in progress," Schwab always commented. "But I hope to evolve these concepts for the boat to achieve her potential and be a very competitive entry in the next Vendée Globe. The last arrival over the busy weekend at the Newport Shipyard closed the rankings for Class 1 of Around Alone 2002-03, that of British skipper Emma Richards on Pindar. On a perfect sunny Sunday afternoon, with the biggest grin on her face, Emma gracefully maneouvred her Open 60 Pindar across the finish line, and at 16:15:26 local time, she knew that her bittersweet solo circumnavigation was over. Richards was undeniably happy that she had accomplished such a feat, and in doing so become the first British woman and youngest ever competitor to complete Around Alone in its 20 year history. However, Emma was adamant that this was the last time she would race single-handed. "I set myself this challenge to race solo round the world, but I didn't like the solitude, and I really want to sail with crew from now on. You will not find me doing another Around Alone or a Vendee Globe!" The mark of her success is undoubtedly the incredible amount of support she has had behind her all the way in the form of her family; this includes her 'surrogate family', sponsors Pindar, headed up by Andrew Pindar, who has during this race personally extended his generosity to other skippers in the race, notably supplying the new mast for Spirit of Canada after Derek Hatfield's dismasting off Cape Horn. In fact, the Canadian skipper and his Open 40 were at Barra lighthouse 4 miles from the finish going at 4 knots in squally conditions and is due to arrive in Salvador imminently. He intends to depart as soon as possible after the enforced 48 hr stop, after doing a few repairs to his new indexsail. QUOTES FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCES Thierry Dubois "When I knew that my route I took to the east right at the start of Leg 1 was not going to work out, I had a lot of time to think about this second place! I did try to race 'a la Stamm', and have never been so tired in my whole career as when I finished this leg! I did not know how to balance pushing the boat much harder than normal and not breaking anything. So I exploded my gennaker in two, just trying to take 10 measly miles out of Bruce Schwab - a costly end to the race?" "I am happy to end my career after a night like last night, the sea state was terrible, and also there was a musical symphony of blips on my radar screen, so not much time to be nostalgic! But I managed to put up my Amnesty International spinnaker, painted by children in every country we have visited, for the first time ever during the race, and sailed for the last 3 miles with it. It is the symbol of my project for human rights, which has lasted for ten years." "My next project is to build a boat which will be only similar to Solidaires in length. She will be 60 foot long, but built in wood, epoxy and kevlar, to be a functional working expedition boat, but also with a classic design. Everytime I have raced around the bottom of the world I realise that I never stop there, but only see sea, sea, sea. So I decided I want to build this boat to run polar expeditions. I want to build her myself, with a small team and in a boatyard cycling distance from my house - the easy life! So in the meantime I will become the technical manager for Solidaires as I pass her into the hands of Patrice Carpentier for the next Vendée Globe. I'm happy to see her racing again around the world, but happier that I will stay ashore to drink beers with my friends!"" Brad Van Liew "The biggest lesson I learnt from the last time I did the race is how to put together the ingredients of a quality campaign. I owe my success to my family, my wife Meaghan who runs my campaign on shore, and the best family of sponsors, who are all top shelf suppliers for the boat, including Honeywell, Raymarine, Spectra and Profurl. It really is very much a team sport." "Being a new father just changed the whole dynamic of this race for me. Tate was merely a baby when we left last September, and it's incredible to see her walking and so grown up at the end of this trip - it makes me realise how long I have been away, but also how much of a family affair this race has been for me." Emma Richards "I took on the race as a sailing challenge, not the solitude, to put it into perspective I wanted to go out and have a race and that is what I got. The solitude is something you have to deal with, I think there are some solo sailors out there who like it but I am not one of them." "I can't believe I managed to circumnavigate the world by myself, I'm thrilled to bits about that. I've been on the podium since the end of Leg 1, so to loose it on the last leg is disappointing but I've had 3 weeks to think about it, so I am not that disappointed anymore." "I saw this race as a series of transatlantics. Once I'd done one leg, I'd then gear myself up for the next race from Torbay to Cape Town, then the next race from Cape Town to Tauranga, and so on." Weather - The Raymarine 3 day weather forecast and map is posted up online at www.aroundalone.com every other day. The ETA's will be updated every day online, based on the performance data calculated by RayTech 4.1 navigational software supplied by Official Race Partners Raymarine (www.raymarine.com). Finish Line is a transit from Castle Hill Lighthouse, Newport RI at 41 27.6 N 71 21.8 W. The boats will then dock at the Newport Shipyard, 1 Washington Street. Around Alone 2002-03 Overall Rankings - Class 1 1. Bobst Group - Armor Lux: 49 points / 115 days 18hrs 27m 23s 2. Solidaires: 45 points / 118 days 13hrs 54m 1s 3. Tiscali: 35 points / 159 days 20hrs 53m 11s 4. Pindar: 33 points / 131 days 20hrs 45m 49s 5. Ocean Planet: 30 points / 159 days 6hrs 41m 42s Class 2 1. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America: 50 points / 148 days 17 hrs 54m 42s Leg 5 Rankings - Class 1 1. Bobst Group - Armor Lux finished at 11:20:10 GMT 1st May 03 after 17 days, 19hrs, 20m 23s 2. Tiscali finished at 12:01:30 GMT 3rd May 03 after 19 days, 20 hrs, 1m 30s 3. Solidaires finished at 19:54:01 GMT 3rd May after 20 days, 3 hrs, 54m, 1s 4. Ocean Planet finished at 03:35:57 GMT 4th May after 20 days 11 hours 35m 57s 5. Pindar finished at 20:15:26 GMT 4th May after 21 days 4hrs 15m 26s Class 2 1. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America finished at 09:53:58 GMT 4th May 03 after POSITIONS AT 2200GMT 4th May 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 2 Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF 1. Everest Horizontal 40 52.550 N, 70 03.410 W, 70.92 nm, 8.87 kt, 299 °T, 68.68 nm 2. Spirit of yukoh 36 23.322 N, 66 12.452 W, 83.91 nm, 10.48 kt, 319 °T, 387.87 nm 3. BTC Velocity 29 21.130 N, 60 09.511 W, 44.01 nm, 5.50 kt, 285 °T, 908.31 nm * Spirit of Canada (Leg 4) at 22:00 GMT - 13 15 96S, 38 29 56W DTF 17 nm Overall Results in Points / Total Elapsed Time after 4 Legs 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. International Media Relations: Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - USA Mobile: +1 401 225 2462 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE