Current topic for Volvo leg 5 from Rio to Miami

by Simon Keijzer on 9 Mar 2002 ASSA ABLOY Strips Down For Restart of Leg 5 (tomorrow 13.30 local time)

The shore crew stripped all the unnecessary items of ASSA ABLOY to achieve
minimal weight for the pre dominantly light winds of leg five from Rio de
Janeiro to Miami. To improve performance even more, four new sails,
including a new mainsail, were developed for this coming leg starting on
Saturday 9th March. On the crew front bowman Jason Carrington (UK) will
return. He recovered after his collapse during leg 3 and consequently
sitting out leg four. Tactician Chris Larson (USA) is back onboard again. He
was absent from leg four due to other obligations.

The start is at 13.30 hours local time in the middle of Guanabara Bay under
Sugar-loaf Mountain. All the ocean racers rely on the local afternoon
south-south-westerly sea breeze to get under way.

ASSA ABLOY’s meteorologist George Carras, navigator Mark Rudiger and
tactician Chris Larson studied the weather thoroughly for the last few days.
“A reasonably stable breeze around 10-15 knots is predicted for the next
coming days, but on Sunday it will get tricky when the wind starts shifting
first to the north easter for two days,” said Carras.

Leg five will be very different from the previous leg through the Southern
Ocean. The crews will experience 4450 nautical miles of warm temperatures
and light winds. One of the main tactical issues for this leg will be the
current coming down the Brasilian coast form the North.

For American tactician Chris Larson this will be a busy leg: “It will be a
cat and mouse game for the first couple of days. We will have the current of
two to three knots against us and we will have to play with the different
breezes. You have to choose either to go inshore where there is less current
but less consistent wind or to go more off shore where the current is
stronger but the wind is more consistent,” said Larson the day before the
start.

The other important tactical issue is the Doldrums appearing after
approximately 8-10 days of racing. In this area the fleet will be subject to
painfully light winds in the burning sun leading to extremely hot
temperatures on board. In between the sailors will be haunted by extreme
tropical thunderstorms and squalls. On the weather charts right now the
doldrums are predicted to be quite narrow, but a lot can happen in the
coming 10 days.

To maximize the boat speed for this light wind leg ASSA ABLOY has saved as
much weight as possible on the boat. Less clothes (as it is warmer), less
food, less diesel, lighter sail bags, no spares, and no extra main sail.
This has helped the crew save around 300 kg!

Skipper Neal McDonald and the crew on ASSA ABLOY are well prepared and
confident. “We are ready and probably the most prepared we’ve been for any
of the legs to date,” said McDonald.

Crew on ASSA ABLOY Leg 5

Neal McDonald UK Skipper

Mark Rudiger USA Co Skipper/Navigator

Chris Larson USA Tactician/Helmsman

Mike Howard USA Trimmer

Magnus Olsson SWE Watch Captain/Helmsman

Sidney Gavignet FRA Watch Captain/Helmsman

Jules Mazars FRA Trimmer/Helmsman

Klas Nylof SWE Trimmer/Helmsman

Jason Carrington UK Bowman

Mike Joubert RSA Bowman

Stu Wilson NZL Trimmer/Onboard Sailmaker

Richard Mason NZL Trimmer