Sea, Sail & Surf newsVolvo Ocean Race / Leg 7
SEB On A Flyer
dimanche 5 mai 2002 –
ASSA ABLOY’s, Tyco’s and News Corp’s navigators have been discussing this option in their emails as cutting the corners of the Azores high and were curious, whether anybody will dare to go this way. Until now SEB had to accept setbacks, losing more miles then anybody else due to less boat speed. Marcel von Triest, SEB’s navigator must be certain that these losses can be outweighed at a later stage when the weather will be getting lighter. The danger with this approach is becoming trapped under the Azores high-pressure system.
Mark Rudiger, ASSA ABLOY’s navigator is still uncertain about when to go straight east as with every hour they are get further north. They have already passed La Rochelle’s latitude. From on board he wrote : "The next big test of the nerves looks to be when to make the break for the ridge we have to cross and negotiating light winds with left over chop. Then to set up for the approach, and not get caught too low of the low looking to set up over Spain."
The main pack of the fleet with illbruck leading in front of ASSA ABLOY and Tyco chooses to stay closer to the low-pressure system that is on the way to Iceland. Matt Humphries from News Corp is concerned about the front that is chasing them : "Up until a few hours ago we were expecting the cold front from this depression we are travelling in to cross the fleet which would have made the rich get richer as we would have been left in the lighter northwesterlies first, but now that is not the case as the front slows down and stalls."
The timing of SEB’s move is interesting ; by changing course soon after the position report without the rest of the fleet knowing about the move to gain an advantage. Did the rest of the fleet react to this move, or were they going to flatten out their courses this morning anyway ? Probably a bit of both, but with SEB out of the running for overall glory the leg position makes little difference in the overall results. They are racing for leg prizes so a flyer is worth the risk.
The Azores high is still sitting over the islands with a ridge towards the UK. With the axis of the ridge aligned southwest to northeast the more southerly yachts will slow down and hit it first ; however they are likely to break through first into the northerly winds on the other side. Once into the northerly wind it will veer to the northeast then possibly east putting the advantage with a better wind angle to the northerly yachts.
A dramatic incident occurred yesterday on board SEB, when the whole yacht was submerged as the yacht shot through a wave. Crewman Glen Kessels was washed off the winch pedestal, only to be caught by the steering wheel. Not really designed for this purpose, the wheel gave way and broke. Gurra Krantz‚ email gives a lively account about the situation on board : "A bit hairy when the gusts are coming in at 43 knots. We had one sensational wave when we buried the whole boat and Glen Kessels got washed off the grinding pedestal. The result of this is that we have only half the steering wheel on the port side. Glen‚s body knocked the other half off when cockpit surfing towards the stern. Luckily just a few bruises and very wet was the price for that ride. The steering wheel looks like one of these airplane steering wheels that is only half a circle."
The strong winds of the last days have knocked the estimated arrival time for La Rochelle back once again. Wednesday night or Thursday is looking very likely right now. On board ASSA ABLOY this possibility has been discussed even before that start, Mark Rudiger wrote : "At our last crew meeting the night before the start, I gave an optimistic 11 days, 22 hours elapsed time ETA for this leg. Magnus said „Impossible, you are crazy !" Now with just over 1300 miles to go, we have 118 hours to make that deadline or an 11-knot average. It’s true, I am crazy, but so are these boats and the drivers, so I think we can do it. It all comes down to how fast we can cross this ridge, and how friendly or unfriendly the low coming in will be."
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 8, 0956 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 47 58.68N 027 57.20W 1092 79 18.6 443 0 0 09/05/02 01:17 49
2 TYCO 47 46.04N 028 31.76W 1116 73 18.1 454 24 +4 09/05/02 03:12 34
3 AART 47 56.84N 028 35.56W 1118 74 18 452 26 +5 09/05/02 03:20 40
4 TSEB 45 48.80N 028 49.28W 1144 85 16.9 434 52 +10 09/05/02 05:30 26
5 NEWS 47 37.40N 029 29.36W 1155 69 18.9 462 63 0 09/05/02 06:22 35
6 AONE 47 31.96N 029 36.68W 1161 68 18.9 463 69 +1 09/05/02 06:48 35
7 DJCE 47 07.44N 029 39.60W 1166 68 18.5 461 74 +3 09/05/02 07:12 23
8 ATOO 44 38.96N 063 34.24W 4512 0 0 152 3420 +110 No Data 10
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