| At sea. Volvo Ocean Race: ABN AMRO ONE extends lead into the Bermuda Triangle |
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| Saturday, 15 April 2006 | |
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Event media: There is no let up for the tiring crews racing in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race. After an exciting 24 hours, where the fleet has had anything from a 14 knot run to a 25 knots tight reach in a matter of five minutes, the leaders have now broken free of the stationary front, the volatile weather lying beyond it, and have reached a ridge of high pressure, which has slowed them considerably. The wind speed began to drop around 0400 GMT this morning and now the leaders have a miserly three knots. The next question they face is how to find the narrowest point to cross the slowly expanding ridge and reach the building westerly winds beyond it. At present, the chasing pack is still enjoying reasonable wind speeds and some impressive gains have been made, but these will be short lived and, as they reach the high pressure as the ridge will have expanded by the time they get there and consequently their progress will be slower. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has now closed the gap to 27 miles from leaders ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), while Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), Ericsson (John Kostecki) and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) have all gained just short of 50 miles in the last six hour period. The biggest gain in the fleet is backmarker, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) who has gained a massive 62 nautical miles and are still averaging 15.5 knots. The distances lost and gained over the past 24 hours are a good indication that the weather Gods are testing the boats and the crews in every way possible as they battle their way towards the finish in Baltimore which should be in the early part of next week. Bermuda Triangle: 1600 GMT: Still leading the pack in the final 600 miles of the Volvo Ocean Race leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is 600 miles east of the Florida coast and 260 miles south west of Bermuda, in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle. Although legend has it that many ships have mysteriously disappeared in this region, this should not happen to ABN AMRO ONE and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) although they are making very slow progress. Conditions yesterday were a wake-up call for the chasing pack as they waved good bye to the champagne sailing they have had for the last few days and saw the return of 20 – 25 knots of wind and a lumpy sea state. Once through the high pressure ridge, there is more of the same to come as they start to cross the Gulf Stream. “These are the conditions we term ‘fire hosing’,” says Paul Cayard from Pirates of the Caribbean. “The water flies off the bow and hits you in the face and does so with the force of a fire hose. Getting constantly hit by the fire hose is quite tiring, but it is indicative of good speed being made. At this stage of any leg, everyone is pretty much able to put with anything that gets you to the dock fast,” he explains The motion onboard has been very violent with the boats well heeled over. The temperature has dropped to 21 degrees C and the tropical cruise is definitely over and when the fleet picks up the new north westerly breeze, it will feel cold. The volatile weather conditions, which brought squalls and massive wind shifts, meant that the crew onboard Brasil 1 hoisted every sail they have except the J3 and J4. Sail changes become tiring and difficult in these conditions and it takes everyone working together and an intense few minutes of effort to get the sail safely on the deck which is the most important part. “You still have to drag the 200m2 sail back aft and pack it properly, which is a job in itself,” says Ericsson’s navigator Steve Hayles. “All while being hit hard by every wave sweeping up the deck and undoing your last few minutes work.” Onboard ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), things got a little messy during a sail change. “In the rushing around that ensued in this latest squally, things got a little messy downstairs today,” explains navigator Simon Fisher. “As the spinnakers were dragged aft to try and help the boats bow out of the water, a misplaced boot resulted in the contents of one of the fire extinguishers ending up all over the inside of the boat. Before we knew it, people were filing out of the hatch covered in white power and the hatches had to be opened in order to get some fresh air!” There have been more losses again this afternoon as the fleet enters the high pressure ridge. Movistar is now 43 miles behind ABN AMRO ONE, losing 16 miles in the last six hours. Third-placed Pirates of the Caribbean is now 161 miles behind the leader and has lost 28 miles this afternoon, sailing the slowest in the fleet. Ericsson (John Kostecki) who is three miles ahead of Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) has lost 11 miles and Brasil 1 10 miles in the last six hours. The only boat to make a gain is ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) who has yet to enter the ridge. Leg 5 day 14, 15.04.06, 1000 GMT positions: 1 ABN AMRO ONE 2 movistar DTL 27 3 Pirates of the Caribbean DTL 133 4 Ericsson Racing Team DTL 190 5 Brasil 1 DTL 194 6 ABN AMRO TWO DTL 243 Leg 5 day 14, 15.04.06, 1600 GMT positions 1 ABN AMRO ONE 2 movistar DTL 43 3 Pirates of the Caribbean DTL 161 4 Ericsson Racing Team DTL 201 5 Brasil 1 DTL 204 6 ABN AMRO TWO DTL 237 DTL Distance to leader |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 April 2006 ) |
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