| At sea. Volvo Ocean Race: The mental game |
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; "Positions 0400 GMT Day 11")
| Wednesday, 12 April 2006 | |
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Event media amended by BYM News: It might look like plain sailing, as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet scorches through the Caribbean en route to Baltimore, but it’s actually more complicated than it initially appears. “The weather is starting to really throw some curve balls for us for the last couple of thousand miles to Baltimore.” explained Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. The mental game is commencing and the weather forecast indicates that there will be plenty of re-start possibilities. For ABN AMRO ONE this is their worst nightmare and will ensure that the last week of leg five will be as stressful for the Dutch boat as possible, with the forecast showing two low pressure systems and a high pressure ridge for the fleet to negotiate between the Caribbean and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. For ABN AMRO ONE, the nightmare became reality as they slowed to 15.9 knots and the chasing pack was hounding them down at 17 knots or over. The entire fleet was reducing ABN AMRO’s lead and looked likely to continue to do so. Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford, explained: “As the fleet continues to head north the breeze should remain out of the north east, decreasing slightly over the next 24 hours, before building again. Occasional squalls will continue to be an issue for the teams and the navigators will continue to study the Bermuda High and any weather moving off the US east coast in order to best plan their approach to the Chesapeake Bay. Looking ahead, the North Atlantic or Bermuda High is located around 40N and 30W, with a large ridge extending southwest towards the Bahamas. As the fleet sails through the trade winds, they boats must position themselves to pass through this ridge on their way to the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, a large area of high pressure moving off the US east coast late this week will move across the rhumb line, adding the potential for some light winds along the course.” With the whole fleet clawing back ABN AMRO ONE’s lead, the biggest gain of 11 miles has been made by Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) as they have maintained a slightly faster boat speed. They have also seen the maximum wind speed of 25 knots, most likely the product of a squall. Brasil1 (Torben Grael) has caught up by 7 miles, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) by 5 miles, Ericsson (John Kostecki) by 4 miles and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) by 2 miles. Positions have not changed on the overall leader board and the fleet continue to sail a drag race through the north-east trade winds. With the islands of the Caribbean lying only 400 miles due west, the lost souls on Pirates of the Caribbean must now fight the urge to go and look for hidden treasure. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 April 2006 ) |
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