21.01.2006
Hat trick for ABN AMRO ONE
After 18 days, 22 hours, 8 minutes and 40 seconds at sea, Mike Sanderson (NZ) and his exhausted crew on the black Dutch boat, ABN AMRO ONE, made it a hat trick today by winning three stages of the Volvo Ocean Race in a row; leg one, the Cape Town in-port race and leg two from Cape Town to Melbourne, Australia.
After passing through Port Phillip heads, ABN AMRO ONE crossed the finish line off Williamstown, Melbourne, to complete the 6,400 nautical mile leg at 09.08.40 GMT (20.08.40 local time) and now leads the Volvo Ocean Race with 29 points, five points clear of Sebastien Josse (FR) with ABN AMRO TWO, provided they indextain their second position on this leg.
Sanderson, clearly relieved at completing this, the first three of the challenging southern ocean legs in the event, said,
“I am really relieved. It has been a very stressful last 18 hours, but that is nothing compared with the leg as a whole. I have never known anything like it.
“The guys have done an amazing job and I am so happy for the whole team. An ABN AMRO first and second is huge. It was huge on the first leg and even more so on this one, considering the toughness of the leg.
“I have enjoyed being in Melbourne already – just crossing the finish line was a huge relief and I am so pleased that we are here in one piece.
“I am over the moon. We have worked bloody hard for this and we are all just stoked.”
As ABN AMRO ONE makes her way up the Yarra River, to perform a limbo under the Bolte Bridge before arriving at the Waterfront City Race Village, Docklands, Melbourne’s newest waterside location, huge crowds have gathered to watch her progress live from two massive super-screens. The arrival ceremony will be followed by a spectacular fireworks display. Today is the official day of opening of the Waterfront Race Village, which also includes the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival featuring famous British Chef, Rick Stein.
ABN AMRO ONE took the lead on day four, January 5, racing south as the wind increased to 28 knots, just the conditions this boat revels in. Sanderson reported speeds of 27 knots as the boat tore downwind with the crew trying throttle back and keep the boat in one piece. “I am very conscious of this leg, as I promised the boys and myself that we would tone it back,” wrote Sanderson.
On day 9, January 10, ABN AMRO ONE arrived at the first scoring gate on this leg, set at the Kerguelen Islands and claimed the first set of points on offer, adding 3.5 to their growing tally. The crew then turned her bows away from the second scoring gate at Eclipse Island in order to head back south again in search of strong breeze.
As they streaked away on edge of a cold front, Sanderson was sick with worry, “I know this could be the windiest night of the leg and we are doing a lot to throttle back. It’s like thinking you’re safe on your bike without brakes because there are no hills, and then you turn a corner in the middle of a pitch black night and remember you live in San Francisco.” The onboard sewing machine was put to good use when they blew to pieces their big spinnaker, but it was only a few hours before the sail was back in the air, almost as good as new.
On the approach to the second scoring gate at Eclipse Island, 1.5 miles off Albany on the south western tip of Australia, ABN AMRO ONE became caught in a high pressure ridge and the crew watched dismally as their margin rapidly disappeared and the chasing pack rode up fast behind them on the old weather system.
By day 13, January 14, Sanderson’s buffer was just 57 nautical miles as he carefully picked his way through the ridge of high pressure. “We think we have picked the best spot to go through,” he explained and added, “I have always had this feeling, even when the lead was at its biggest, that we would be seeing these other guys [ABN AMRO TWO and movistar] again before reaching Eclipse… I hope I am wrong.”
Sanderson’s worst fears were realised when on day 14, ABN AMRO TWO overtook the black boat briefly and the leading three boats were separated by only 26 miles.
ABN AMRO ONE regained the lead, just in time to round the second scoring gate in first place, with ABN AMRO TWO hot on their heels, and set off to windward on the long beat to the finish, 1300 miles away. “What a relief,” wrote Sanderson. “I am not sure how many more of those big losses my nerves could take. To have gone from 390 nautical miles ahead to seven miles behind, slowly and painfully, has been one of my toughest times in a Volvo race.”
The black boat continued to pull away steadily from the opposition. Although the final hours of almost no wind were a frustrating and nail-biting time for the crew, they finally crossed the finish line at 09:08:40 after 18 days, 22 hours, 8 minutes and 40 seconds at sea.
At the time of finishing, ABN AMRO TWO was 31 nautical miles behind ABN AMRO TWO with an average speed of 8.4 knots. Her estimated time of arrival is 1315 GMT today. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) is expected tonight at around 1922, provided she is able to indextain her current speed of 8 knots.
Siegeryacht in Leg 2
ABN1
7
7.0
14.0
29.0
Zieldurchgang: 21/01/06 09:08:40
gesegelte Zeit Leg 2: 018d 22h 08m 40s
LEG TWO DAY 20, 21.12.06, 0930 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
LAT
LONG
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
SGPTS
PLPTS
PTLPTS
POP
ETA
OVERALL
2
ABN2
38 20.36S
144 53.84E
00031
08.4
177
07.4
00000
+00027
6
6.0
12.0
24.0
21/01/06 13:15:10
2
3
MOVI
38 45.47S
142 56.20E
00134
08.8
192
08.0
00103
+00023
4.5
5.0
9.5
15.5
21/01/06 19:22:45
3
4
POTC
40 46.42S
135 16.30E
00502
10.4
274
11.4
00471
+00027
4.5
4.0
8.5
13.5
23/01/06 02:07:30
5
5
AUS1
38 04.08S
125 36.71E
00947
14.4
354
14.7
00916
+00036
3
3.0
6.0
11.0
24/01/06 21:05:06
7
6
BRA1
35 56.72S
098 19.00E
02304
06.2
155
06.4
02273
+00019
1
2.0
3.0
15.5
01/02/06 22:53:33
3
7
ERIC
33 57.56S
025 37.90E
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
AUS1 ING Real Estate Brunel
BRA1 Brasil 1
ERIC Ericsson Racing Team
MOVI movistar
POTC Pirates of the Caribbean
DTF: distance to finish, SMG: Speed made good, DTL: distance to leader,
DTLC: distance to leader change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll
SGPTS: points scored at scoring gates on this leg to date
PLPTS: projected leg points
PTLPTS: projected overall leg points including actual points from scoring gates
POP: projected overall points including actual points from scoring gates
OVERALL: projected position in race overall if yacht indextains current position
Lizzie Green Press Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant at race headquarters
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
The Volvo Ocean Race
- The Volvo Ocean Race is a round the world yacht race featuring nine offshore legs, over 31,250 nautical miles. The 2005-06 features an inshore race at each of the index stopover ports.
- Four teams from the last race measured the media value of their exposure. The results showed an average of US$50 million, which equates to a 200-300% return on their sponsorship investment.
- The Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02 achieved a cumulative audience of over 800 million viewers ranking it among the top international sporting events.
- Further information can be found at www.volvooceanrace.org .
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