Amazing Performance by ABN Amro's on Volvo Leg 1

by Lizzie Green, Volvo OR Media on 28 Nov 2005 The GANT TIME 24-hour run record has been claimed by ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) in a breath-taking dash to Cape Town. The final tally was 546 nautical miles the 24 hour period to 1910 GMT yesterday, averaging a speed of 22.75 knots. Not to be outdone, the ‘young fellas’ on the second ABN AMRO (Sebastien Josse) boat also broke the 24-hour record, covering 539 nm at an average speed of 22.45 knots. ABN AMRO ONE’s record will now be presented to the Word Sailing Speed Record Council for official ratification.

‘It’s an amazing feeling,’ wrote Sanderson yesterday after hearing news of the record breaking run. ‘We have had some tough times onboard in the last few weeks but, for sure, this is an amazing highlight.’ He paid tribute to his team and also to the amazing performance put up by Sebastien Josse’s crew on ABN AMRO TWO. ‘They are just flying. I did try and warn a few people about the ‘White Rocket’ when we were in Spain, and I knew it was falling on deaf ears.’

When GANT TIME signed with the Volvo Ocean Race as official timing partner, they very generously agreed to give a watch to each crew member of the boat breaking the current 24-hour record. Retailing at 1000 euros each, this will be a great prize for each of the sailors.

Meanwhile, further back on the racetrack, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) has set up 94 nm north of the two Dutch boats, with Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) sandwiched between them. McDonald’s team are disappointed. Hampered after losing the special reaching sail on the first night of the leg, this is now the sail they most need. They are now out of touch with the two Dutch boats and Brasil 1s lead over them is continuing to increase.

Sunergy and Friends are heading south, 639 nm north east of Rio de Janeiro. They are now 1465 miles adrift.

LEG ONE DAY 17, 28.11.05, 1000 GMT POSITION REPORT
Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG DTL DTLC LPTS ETA Overall
1 ABN1 34 55.04S 007 08.67W 01266 079 19.3 00000 +00000 7.0 30/11/05 23:57:__ 1
2 ABN2 35 01.16S 008 56.86W 01353 088 16.9 00087 -00010 6.0 01/12/05 10:40:__ 4
3 BRA1 34 33.00S 010 59.00W 01456 080 14.6 00190 -00027 5.0 02/12/05 04:21:__ 2
4 ERIC 33 51.16S 011 38.76W 01494 091 15.9 00228 -00016 4.0 02/12/05 04:28:__ 2
5 SUNF 21 26.67S 031 31.21W 02731 185 17.2 01465 -00070 3.0 10/12/05 04:13:__ 5
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
SUNF 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/