SEB Retired. Fleet Nearing Hobart.

by Volvo Ocean Race Press Office on 29 Dec 2001 SEB was forced to retire from Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, having lost
her rudder 70 miles to the north of Tasmania on route for Hobart. The
crew fitted the emergency rudder as fast as they could, but still had to
take the agonising decision to turn the boat around and head north towards
Eden, in Australia, to carry out the necessary repairs.

At 2000 GMT last night the rudder came away from the boat, which the crew
fortunately managed to salvage, but leaving a hole in the bottom and water
flooding in. They then managed to close all the watertight hatches and
plug the hole. In spite of structural damage the boat was in no danger of
sinking and the crew were safe and well. Skipper, Gurra Krantz confirmed
this earlier, “What has happened is very sad for us, but most important in
a situation of this magnitude is ensuring the crew and the boat are safe.
In the prevailing conditions here, we would not venture to carry on racing
with an emergency rudder.'

It is now important that SEB is ready for the start of Leg 4 from Auckland
to Rio de Janeiro, starting on 27th January and the back up support ashore
is now rallying to make the necessary arrangements. 'We are now
organizing our shore crew to carry out the necessary repairs and getting
the boat to full racing shape in good time for leg 4 out of Auckland' says
Pelle Norberg, Managing Director for the syndicate company running Team
SEB.

Meanwhile, the fleet continues on towards their pit stop in Hobart, with
the lead position changing regularly. This is proving to be a nail biting
finish, with the boats suffering no wind and zero boatspeed at the south
eastern tip of Tasman Island, a dramatic change from the 35 - 60 knot
winds and large seas the fleet experienced on day one of this leg.

ASSA ABLOY were delighted to finish their crossing of the Bass Strait and
are looking forward to their arrival in Hobart, but only after negotiating
the finish in the Derwent River, “It has felt great to be out racing again
and to continue our race around this big blue planet. Auckland always
feels like the halfway mark and that isn't far away now. We still have to
negotiate a tricky finish and restart in Hobart. Hopefully the wind gods
will be with us and help us with a speedy transition.”

“Having finished two Hobart races, it is going to feel strange turning
right around and heading out again. I've never raced with a pit stop like
this before so it will be interesting to see how it goes. It will be
especially strange if it all happens in the middle of the night, which is
the way it's looking now. In any case, we're looking forward to briefly
seeing one of the prettier places on earth, even if only for a few hours,”
wrote Mark Rudiger.

As the crews of the Volvo Ocean Race will touch the earth of Tasmania they
will miss out the nature and wilderness of this southernmost Australian
island as they continue to Auckland after just three and a half hours. The
island is dominated by vast stretches of untouched nature while the
population of almost 500,000 people gathers in the main towns, more than a
third in the capital Hobart. The Sydney - Hobart Race is the kick-off for
the Tasmanian Summer Festival, which incorporates the New Year
celebrations as well.
It is a natural island roughly the size of West Virginia, 240 km off the
southeast corner of mainland Australia and 2000 km from Antarctica - a
land of dramatic coastlines, rugged mountains, tall forests and sparkling
highland lakes. Over a third of the state is reserved in a network of
National Parks and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, a refuge
and habitat for rare plants and animals, including survivors of the
ancient southern super continent, Gondwana.
The European heritage dates back to the early 1800s, but the Tasmanian
Aboriginals first reached there 40,000 years ago. One of the famous
Governors of Tasmania (then called Van Diemen’s Land) was Sir John
Franklin, who later died tragically in an attempt to find the North West
Passage.
Tasmania has a long seafaring history and was first sighted by Dutch
navigator, Abel Tasman in 1642, who named the island Van Diemen’s Land.
In 1912 Roald Amundsen telegraphed from Hobart, to deliver the news that
he had successfully reached the South Pole. More recently, in 1988 the
Irish group U2 praised the island in their song “Van Diemen’s Land”, after
Captain William Bligh of Bounty fame who wrote the opera in 1777.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 1600 GMT

PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO

1 TYCO 43 15.28S 147 56.52E 01543 237 02.0 204 0 0 04 JAN 02 14

2 NEWS 43 14.32S 147 56.68E 01543 229 02.1 203 0 -2 04 JAN 02 19

3 DJCE 43 15.56S 148 00.36E 01547 217 02.2 213 4 +1 04 JAN 02 13

4 AONE 43 15.24S 147 58.84E 01547 221 04.3 227 4 -5 04 JAN 02 16

5 ILBK 43 15.56S 147 58.76E 01547 223 02.0 203 4 +3 04 JAN 02 20

6 AART 43 15.52S 147 58.52E 01547 214 02.9 205 4 0 04 JAN 02 10

7 ATOO 42 25.64S 148 49.04E 01624 198 10.9 226 81 -14 05 JAN 02 5

8 TSEB 37 54.48S 149 54.08E 01877 012 07.8 135 11

PS – Position; DTF – Distance to Finish; CMG – Course made good; SMG –
Speed made good; TFHR – 24 hours run; DTL – Distance to leader; DTL-C –
Distance to leader change; ETA – Estimated time of arrival; PO –
accumulated Points


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