Can News Corp still beat Amer Sports Too in Volvo Ocean race

by Volvo ocean race media on 16 Feb 2002 Depression, stress and exhaustion are likely to be setting in for some of
the crews of the Volvo Ocean Race, along with the ups and downs and day to
day grind of yacht racing. The highs are extreme and can provide an
adrenaline buzz second to none and the lows can be the worst thing that
has ever happened to you in your life at that particular point in time.
Not life threatening, but when you are tired and physically drained, the
lows appear to be far more significant. Any number of events can affect
your well being, from place changing to more tangible difficulties such as
losing rigs and rudders.

For News Corp their worst nightmare has come true. They reported the
loss of their rudder at 2030 GMT on February 14 about 1200 miles from the
finish line in Rio de Janeiro, in a very short message:

“At the time the boat was sailing at speeds of up to 22 knots on a shy
spinnaker reach with full mainsail, when all of a sudden the rudder
sheered off below the hull. There was no other damage, than a blown out
spinnaker. There are no injuries.

There is no apparent cause for the failure, but hitting the ice in the
Southern Ocean may have contributed to the failure. Obviously the crew of
Team News Corp is very disappointed particularly as they were in line to
charge into third place with the increased pressure from the west. With
the forecast weather, Team News Corp expects to be in Rio within eight
days. “Team News Corp is continuing to race and is pushing the boat as
hard as possible” reported Ross Field.

This is a devastating blow to the crew of News Corp, following their
collision with an iceberg in the Southern Ocean on February 5. They led
out of Auckland at the start of the leg and after they had hit the
iceberg, reported that they had suffered rig damage. Following immediate
repairs, undertaken in the harsh seas of the Southern Ocean, they managed
to work their way back to third position just before rounding Cape Horn,
and since then have worked hard through every change in wind direction or
speed to claw back from the inevitable knocks and place changing up the
South American coast.

SEB have also suffered during this leg, when they lost their mast in the
ruthless Southern Ocean on February 7. Since then they have been slowly
making their way to Punta Arenas in Chile under jury rig and arrived just
after noon GMT today. Gurra Krantz, skipper of SEB sent a short message
to officially retire from leg 4 as the V.O.60 will now have to make its
way in its cradle on a cargo ship, to Rio de Janeiro. She was also forced
to retire in leg three, following the loss of her rudder and this will
therefore be a double blow to all the sailing crew and shore team for SEB.
At the end of the official notification, Gurra poignantly added, “It was
not easy to press the send button on this msg.” For now it is over to the
shore team, to repair the damage and get the boat ready for the ship to
head for Rio tomorrow. The new mast, which Team SEB has had stored in
Gothenburg, will be air freighted to meet the boat once it has arrived in
Rio. For the sailing crew, it will be an easier journey; they are due to
fly to Rio on Sunday. It will be even more disappointing for the “would
be” first timers, who have missed out on the rounding of Cape Horn. SEB
has arrived this morning in Punta Arenas in the Magellan Strait.

Meanwhile the game of tactical snakes and ladders is still going on for
the rest of the fleet. Minimise the loss and maximise the gain.
Weather systems, fronts and large areas of calm can all play their part in
adding to the level of mental pressure for the navigators and tacticians.
Their role can be a thankless task when the chips are down. Paul Cayard
summed it up from Amer Sports One, “If it [the patch of calm] had squatted
on illbruck we would have had a restart. It seems like it landed on Tyco
and us the most, so illbruck has sprung further ahead.”

These situations tend to provide a feeling of sheer frustration and total
desperation and he continued, “When you are becalmed, you work your ass
off, believe it or not. You change sails, stack and unstack, look for
breeze by sending guys up the rig...it is not an idle time. It is a
desperate time. You know you are losing to someone at the rate of 14
miles per hour. You have to find a way out and most of the time there is
nothing you can do but wait for Mother Nature to take her course.”
Further difficulties with the currents and tidal streams have marred their
recent performance as well, “We have the tail of the Brazilian Current
converging here with the Falklands Current...bad stuff happens here all
the time.”

It is a nail biting time for the entire fleet, as the wind patterns change
and change again and places are won and lost within just a few hours.
Things are not necessarily that easy for the race leader illbruck, who is
constantly looking over her shoulder, worried that one small mistake could
allow the other boats to catch and pass her. A few days ago, Mark
Christensen, nervously wrote, “….a 45 mile lead. Is it enough? Only time
will tell.”

For Tyco and ASSA ABLOY, the gains and losses have given them an anxious
time too and no doubt this will continue right up to the finish line.
Their attention is concentrated on every small detail; the immediate goal
for Tyco is to try and hold onto second position and for ASSA ABLOY to try
and get ahead of djuice. djuice will see the flip side of this and will
be fighting hard to stay ahead of ASSA ABLOY.

For Lisa McDonald and her crew on Amer Sports Too the urge to gain every
additional boat length on the fleet will be their main driving force.
They will be trying to assess and gain on every single opportunity
presented to them and to maximise the benefit of hindsight from earlier
decisions taken by the rest of the fleet. In some respects this might
appear easier than it actually is; there is an expectation that hindsight
makes the decision for you and that Amer Sports Too should constantly pull
back distance. Not an easy task.

Guillermo Altadill, Spanish crew member on board ASSA ABLOY has been
honored with an important award, Best Sportsman Year 2001, that will be
handed out at a gala ceremony tonight in Barcelona, during the 'Nit de la
Vela' ('Night of Sail').The award is given by the Catalonian Sailing
Federation and one of the former winners of this award was the king of
Spain, Juan Carlos I.
This is a great recognition for Guillermo's long career that includes
successful participation in four Olympic Games, several speed records, 14
Atlantic crossings and more than 200.000 nautical miles sailed in
competition.
'I'm very happy for this award. To know that the struggle in so many
competitions is recognized by your peers really makes a difference,'
commented Guillermo by phone when he received the good news.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 19, 1554 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 36 00.84S 047 14.56W 00815 012 10.7 322 0 +0 18 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 36 26.84S 049 16.00W 00872 002 14.6 370 57 -21 18 FEB 02 19
3 AONE 36 56.40S 047 50.32W 00876 003 16.0 353 61 -30 18 FEB 02 24
4 DJCE 36 58.96S 048 00.32W 00881 006 16.0 359 66 -28 18 FEB 02 15
5 AART 36 49.16S 048 54.20W 00886 003 15.4 385 71 -25 18 FEB 02 19
6 NEWS 38 20.36S 051 16.44W 01015 002 10.4 251 200 +6 19 FEB 02 19
7 ATOO 42 28.16S 056 25.40W 01348 026 12.9 326 533 -13 20 FEB 02 7
8 TSEB 53 10.16S