Reeling them in Volvo OR style

by Lizzie Green, Volvo OR Media on 24 Nov 2005 This morning brought a definite smile to the faces of the fourth placed ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) crew as Ericsson (Neal McDonald) popped over the horizon. They have been reeling them in ever since. Until tonight, that is.

‘It is impressive after so many days at sea that we still have such a close race on our hands. It has certainly lifted our spirits a little, having hauled in Ericsson. The next step it somehow to get past. And stay in front,’ writes navigator, Simon Fisher.

Tomorrow is the day set for leaders, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) to turn the corner and set up for the fast run in to Cape Town, and, if they have selected the right place to make the turn, then what a ride it will be.

The positions at 1600 GMT today showed ABN AMRO TWO in third place, but by tonight, Ericsson had fought back to overtake her. Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is in a solid second position, 42 nautical miles behind, but sailing an easterly course which will put her in a good position once she makes the turn for Cape Town. Her 24 hour run has been 359 nm, against ABN AMRO ONE’s 332 nm, while ABN AMRO TWO sailed the furthest at 353.

Sunergy and Friends have managed a miserly 250nm, but at least the crew was able to have a fresh water wash from rain coursing down the mainsail. Navigator, Campbell Field, reported that three of the crew now smell very nice, but the others are not so good. The large turtle that overtook them a day or so ago has turned out to be a very rare Leatherback turtle of which there are less than 1500 left on this planet. Campbell says that if it overtakes them again, he will take a photograph this time.

LEG ONE DAY 12, 23.11.05, 2200 GMT POSITION REPORT
Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG DTL DTLC LPTS ETA Overall

1 ABN1 19 21.54S 033 11.86W 02873 171 12.9 00000 +00000 7.0 03/12/05 __:__:__ 1

2 BRA1 16 49.97S 032 32.53W 02915 181 14.9 00042 -00001 6.0 03/12/05 __:__:__ 1

3 ERIC 16 46.52S 033 25.00W 02960 182 13.8 00087 -00006 5.0 03/12/05 __:__:__ 1

4 ABN2 16 44.72S 033 27.98W 02964 185 14.0 00091 -00010 4.0 03/12/05 __:__:__ 4

5 SUNF 02 55.32N 030 39.44W 03779 208 10.9 00906 +00017 3.0 10/12/05 __:__:__ 7

6 MOVI 37 07.64N 008 31.80W - - - - - - - -

7 POTC 38 41.54N 009 24.95W - - - - - - - -

ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
BRA1 Brasil 1
BRSU Sunergy and Friends
ERIC Ericsson Racing Team
MOVI movistar
POTC Pirates of the Caribbean

DTF: Distance to finish, CMG: Course made good, SMG: Speed made good, DTL: distance to leader, DTLC: distance to leader change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll, LPTS: leg points, OVERALL: position in race overall if yacht maintains current position.
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/racedatacentre/positionmaps/