| At Sea. Volvo Ocean Race: ABN AMRO One in conditions that suit the Juan Kouyoumdjian design |
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| Saturday, 08 April 2006 | |
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Tim Kelly A hard fought battle was waged just off the islands of Fernando de Noronha last night as ABN AMRO ONE and movistar raced towards the scoring gate off Brazil in the latest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. In the end, movistar took the maximum 3.5 points, a mere 1 minute 25 seconds ahead of Mike Sanderson. It had been a valiant chase by ABN AMRO ONE, who had been slowly eating away at the Spanish boat’s substantial lead over the last 48 hours. However, the second place and 3 points for Mike Sanderson represent another solid performance. After rounding the scoring gate, ABN AMRO ONE powered ahead of movistar and is now beginning to build a lead in conditions that suit the Juan Kouyoumdjian designed boat. At the 10:00 GMT report, Mike Sanderson had developed a lead of nine miles, with both the leading boats sailing at around 11 knots. However, lying in wait en route to Baltimore are the infamous doldrums (ITCZ), presenting yet a new challenge to the fleet. ABN AMRO TWO, who struggled with difficult wind conditions to the East of the fleet, were unable to catch Brasil 1, passing through the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha in sixth position, collecting 1 point. With movistar taking maximum points, the result sees Seb Josse and his young crew fall to third in the overall rankings on 39.5 points. As Simon Fisher concludes, “Our hope now is that the doldrums give the boats ahead a bit of grief and we manage to deliver the good downwind pace we had at the beginning of the leg. We will keep on fighting though - plenty more miles to go!” French skipper Seb Josse also warned people to not to discount the kids, adding, ““There is lots of opportunity after the Scoring Gate, it’s a different race after Fernando. It’s more downwind with the masthead chute. We are only 60 miles off the lead – there is plenty of opportunity with so far to go to Baltimore.” |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 April 2006 ) |
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