| At sea. ABN AMRO TWO has a close encounter with the Black Pearl |
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| Thursday, 05 January 2006 | |
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Tim Kelly: Close encounters make for some exciting racing in the Southern Ocean. ABN AMRO TWO started the day in dramatic style this morning with a run in with Pirates of the Caribbean as both boats made their bids to be the first to gybe and head east. Having reached the Southern Ocean yesterday afternoon and battling with building winds through the night, ABN AMRO TWO is now settled into the old routine of fast downwind sailing. Despite covering nearly 600 miles since leaving Cape Town, the top three boats have experienced some very close sailing and are rarely out of sight of one another. Navigator on ABN AMRO TWO, Simon Fisher explains, “We have had plenty of contact with the rest of the fleet with racing proving as close as ever. We have spotted our sister ship ABN AMRO ONE several times in the last 24 hours and our encounter with the Black Pearl this morning was straight out of the movie.” “She may not have black sails and be crewed by the damned and I'm pretty sure Paul Cayard isn't so evil that hell itself spat him back out (I've seen Pirates of the Caribean more than a few times!!), but it was still a pretty menacing sight as the skull and cross bones came over the horizon in a building breeze.” said Fisher. “We both had our masthead spinnakers on, the breeze was getting up and it seemed like it was developing into one of those situations where you end up pushing too hard on the big gear. Luckily though, before we had to start throwing barrels and goats over the side to save ourselves and Keira Knightly (we all wish!), they gybed away thus ending that little encounter!” Meanwhile ABN AMRO ONE is back in front after an excellent tactical sail that saw Mike Sanderson and his crew head directly south. All eyes will be on the next position report, however to see if the Pirates manoeuvre has paid off and closed the gap on the lead boat or if ABN AMRO TWO has made up some ground on the Black Pearl again. www.abnamro.com/team |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 January 2006 ) |
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