Sea, Sail & Surf newsVolvo Ocean Race / Leg 6
Team News Corp first into the Cheasepeake Bay
mercredi 17 avril 2002 –
’Tricky’, ’tense’, ’fickle conditions’, ’nail biting to the line’, ’we don’t care how long it takes as long as we win’ are common views from the fleet. Dee Smith wrote from Amer Sports One, "The sailing will get even more demanding the last 125 miles up the bay. Stand by for a close finish."
The next few hours are crucial to the outcome of this leg and the crews are well aware that they cannot let up in concentration or levels of effort at all until that finish line has been crossed in Baltimore.
Once they have tied up on the dock, a number of cultural and historical attractions await the sailors, not to mention the infamous Maryland seafood specialities. They will be able to feast on the famous mouth-watering crab dishes or alternatively bulk up on pasta in Little Italy, where they will be able to find authentic Italian cuisine. This must be especially important for Claudio and Stefano, the two Italians on board Amer Sports One. Is this maybe the secret to the well performance they show on this leg ?
Many historical interests await them too. Baltimore has evolved through old traditions. Fells Point is the oldest section of the city, with a strong feel of an old English town from its cobbled streets, pubs and restaurants. Mount Vernon was the home of the rich and famous during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the area now boasts the first architectural monument to George Washington, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Walters Art Gallery.
The city itself has a natural maritime heritage since the 1600s, when the waterways allowed passage to commercial cargo and new citizens. In modern times, the city ranks fourth in the United States ports for container cargo on the East Coast with an astounding 40 millions tons of cargo passing through the port each year.
Fort McHenry, the guardian of Baltimore‚s harbour, which is a late 18th century star-shaped fort, is world famous as the birthplace of the United States national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. The inspiration for the writing came to Francis Scott Key after a valiant and successful defence by American forces during a British attack in 1814 !
This morning News Corp passed the bridge that marks the entry to the Chesapeake Bay, leading Amer Sports One and illbruck in sight behind. The entrance to the Chesapeake Bay is just 10 miles wide and the first three yachts entered the final 140-mile sprint for the top places of this leg. They were flying in a 20-knot southwesterly breeze averaging over ten knots. But soon after the breeze died. Amer Sports One, who was able to hold on the old breeze for a bit longer closed the distance to News Corp to just three boat lengths. After a perfect spinnaker peel, News Corp was able to increase the distance again to a quarter of a mile.
Further back the fleet is lined up with roughly 20 miles between the boats. ASSA ABLOY in fourth position is followed by SEB and Tyco. Amer Sports Too has successfully overtaken djuice and has built a two-mile lead. Will the girls be able to attack Tyco 18 miles in front and will they hold the advantage over djuice this time ?
For now, the teams will just have to battle out the closing stages of this leg into Baltimore. From the leading yacht News Corp, Jez Fanstone wrote : "It is like a game of snakes and ladders so lets hope the last roll of the dice gives us a ladder to finish on. With 100 miles to go anything can happen in these fickle conditions. illbruck has pulled up a mile in the last couple of hours having fallen behind at day break and the forecast is not for straight forward sailing by any means."
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 4, 1000 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 NEWS 36 58.68N 075 59.28W 144 330 10.4 249 0 0 18/04/02 00:24 31
2 AONE 36 58.68N 075 59.08W 145 331 10.7 250 1 0 18/04/02 00:25 32
3 ILBK 36 57.56N 075 57.08W 146 333 10.3 249 2 +1 18/04/02 00:36 42
4 AART 36 46.80N 075 43.88W 162 336 11.3 242 18 -1 18/04/02 02:07 33
5 TSEB 36 27.04N 075 34.12W 183 344 11.5 236 39 -8 18/04/02 04:15 21
6 TYCO 36 06.68N 075 23.52W 205 355 11.5 222 61 -4 18/04/02 06:27 27
7 ATOO 35 46.96N 075 25.72W 223 355 10.8 225 79 -3 18/04/02 08:16 10
8 DJCE 35 44.88N 075 24.44W 225 357 10.7 205 81 -3 18/04/02 08:30 20
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©Richard Langdon/Ocean Images
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