08.03.2006
Russian roulette
Rio de Janeiro really turned it on for the start of leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race to Baltimore in the United States. Over 20,000 spectators lined the Copacabana beach and thousands more took to the water.
Local hero’s, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) the first Brazilian entry in the race, were, of course, the star attraction as the fleet left the Marina da Gloria to the music of the 100-piece Brazilian Royal Naval marching band.
Ericsson started leg five with a new skipper, John Kostecki (USA), in charge, and in the light airs under the famous landmark of Sugar Loaf Mountain, Ericsson was joined by Paul Cayard’s team of Pirates and ABN AMRO TWO with Frenchman Sebastien Josse at the head of the fleet. And so began a week of jostling and position changing which led to a thrilling climax at the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha last night on day six, 7 April.
On day two, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) was back in their familiar spot at the head of the fleet, being chased hard by Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO but large black rain clouds began to plague the fleet causing the positions in the fleet to change almost hourly.
“It’s a risky business sailing through the big rain clouds that stretch along the coast here,” wrote Paul Cayard. “Some seem to be completely unavoidable. Get on the right side of them and you get more wind and a good push down the course. End up on the wrong side, and all of a sudden you are sitting in no breeze, pointing in a direction you really don’t want to go, with torrential rain filing your boots.”
The sailing became anything but simple. The whole fleet was in sight of each other and concentration onboard was at 100 per cent. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) was languishing in last place, but, by 0400 on day three, 4 April, all this was to change and movistar took a lead of five miles and Pirates of the Caribbean was last. By 1000 GMT on day three, Bouwe Bekking and the movistar crew had consolidated their lead to 13 miles with ABN AMRO TWO in second position and the racing was as intense as ever.
As darkness fell, it became more difficult to see the patches of wind on the surface of the ocean and the clouds above which were sucking the wind away. The progress was slow and frustrating. The fleet was deviating off course to weave their way around this cloud minefield, while still trying to work their way north.
By day four, 5 April, it was a game of Russian roulette. The chasing pack were afraid that movistar would break free into the south easterly trade winds and pick up her skirts and fly towards the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, 700 miles ahead. It was a high stakes game and there were to be many position changes within the fleet in the next few days. “While you are making the best of what you have,” wrote Paul Cayard, “you can’t help thinking that the other guys have more wind than you do.”
It was getting hotter in every sense of the word. The fleet was constantly on their toes, looking for ways to catch movistar in the unrelenting heat. But, on day five, the first signs of the south easterly trade winds appeared and all the yachts, ABN AMRO TWO, which had slipped to last place, kicked up their heels. Movistar had a lead of 15 miles from Pirates of the Caribbean, with ABN AMRO ONE now in third place, 25 miles behind her. Finally it was straight-line sailing towards the scoring gate 484 nm ahead.
The endless days of little wind and searing heat were beginning to take their toll on the crews. Simon Fisher (ABN AMRO TWO) compared it with being in the middle of a desert with sand dunes that seem to go on for eternity in every direction with no sign of escape, change or relief. “The water was a brilliant colour, inviting us to dive in,” he described. “With no wind, there was no respite from the heat and the intermittent puffy white clouds provided no shelter from the sun.”
Despite the beauty surrounding them, the crew of ABN AMRO TWO were left feeling completely frustrated and annoyed. From being up in the heat of the battle, fighting for a podium position, ABN AMRO TWO was last and the crew was facing the fact that they might have to play catch up for the next 3,000 miles. “You end up sitting staring at the numbers in silence, screaming on the inside,” wrote Fisher despondently.
The endless heat was making it difficult to sleep and the navigators were able to count the hours of rest they had had so far on the fingers of one hand. Along with lack of sleep, the tropical heat was making the crews drink more water. Water is made onboard by using a desalinator which turns sea water into fresh water. To use the desalinator means using more battery power, which in turn, means using more fuel; something that each team has a very finite supply of, due to its weight. The slowness of the fleet so far was indicating that rationing could become a reality in the closing stages of the leg.
The order of the fleet reindexed unchanged with movistar leading from Pirates of the Caribbean, ABN AMRO ONE in third, Ericsson in fourth and Brasil 1 in fifth place.
On day five, ABN AMRO ONE regained second place and, by day six, 7 April, she was nipping at the heels of movistar, having steadily made her way up through the fleet. The team was posing a serious threat to movistar who knew, that if the wind increased, ABN AMRO ONE would be faster than the Spanish boat. The pressure was mounting as the scoring gate, and 3.5 points awarded to the first boat around the island, was only a tantalizing 161 nm ahead. With only 12 hours to go until arriving at the island, it looked as though the two boats would arrive at the same time.
A vicious battle then ensued. Movistar was holding off ABN AMRO ONE’s advances quite comfortably until movistar became trapped under a rain cloud about 30 miles from Fernando, which stopped the boat dead. When the rain eased away, ABN AMRO ONE had sailed straight through the cloud and halved movistar’s lead. “From that point,” said Bekking, “it was game on. We pushed as hard as possible with our big code zero sail up, the wind varying between eight to 15 knots. If the breeze was over 12 knots, then the black boat was much faster. Under that, we could holde her, but only just.
“”With seven miles to go, I knew we would manage to hold them off. At 2051 GMT we passed the scoring gate with one big cheer and carried on as we were close to setting a spinnaker once rounding the island.”
The movistar team then hoisted their spinnaker, quickly followed by ABN AMRO ONE. There was some close sailing for several minutes but ABN AMRO ONE was hard on the heels of movistar and eventually rolled over the top of her. Bekking said, “I have to admit, even how much I hated this happening to us, it was a pretty awesome sight when they sailed over the top of us with a boat length in between – raw power!”
The rest of the fleet rounded the scoring gate later last night and they are now heading towards the Doldrums which will be the next challenge on this 5,000 leg to Baltimore.
Scoring gate rounding order
Movistar 2051 GMT (7.4.06)
ABN AMRO ONE 2052 GMT (7.4.06)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2244 GMT (7.4.06)
ERICSSON 2254 GMT (7.4.06)
BRASIL 1 2324 GMT (7.4.06)
ABN AMRO TWO 0115 GMT (8.4.06)
LEG FIVE DAY 7, 08.04.06, 1000 GMT POSITION REPORT
YACHT
Latitude
Longitude
DTF
SMG
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
DTL
DTLC
SGPTS
PLPTS
PTLPTS
ETA
POP
PROJECTED POSITION OVERALL
1
ABN1
00 41.68S
034 03.88W
03371
16.4
359
14.9
00000
+00000
3
7.0
10.0
18/04/06
62.5
1
2
MOVI
00 48.38S
033 56.68W
03380
15.7
335
14.0
00009
-00004
3.5
6.0
9.5
18/04/06
40.5
2
3
POTC
01 11.83S
033 58.42W
03397
16.5
340
14.2
00026
+00002
2.5
5.0
7.5
18/04/06
39.0
4
4
ERIC
01 14.60S
033 55.34W
03401
16.3
342
14.2
00030
+00001
2
4.0
6.0
18/04/06
29.5
6
5
BRA1
01 27.69S
033 59.37W
03408
16.6
336
14.0
00037
+00003
1.5
3.0
4.5
18/04/06
33.0
5
6
ABN2
01 44.87S
033 24.98W
03444
15.9
344
14.3
00073
-00004
1
2.0
3.0
18/04/06
39.5
3
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
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 total 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
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Images
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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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