Beware the Bermuda Triangle

by Volvo Press Office on 23 Mar 2002 The positions of the leading 3 yachts competing in the Volvo Ocean Race
remain unchanged, with no gains or losses being recorded in the past 6
hours. The remaining 5 boats have also maintained the same order, but all
have made significant gains on the leader. SEB has knocked 18 miles off
her deficit, Amer Sports 1, 22 miles, News Corp 23, Amer Sports Too, 11
and Djuice 9.

The yachts are just entering the Bermuda Triangle, which is a stretch of
the Atlantic Ocean bordered by a line from Florida to the islands of
Bermuda, to Puerto Rico and then back to Florida. The area has what seems
to be an undeserved reputation for swallowing up a disproportionate number
of vessels and aircraft entering its boundaries. It is one of the biggest
mysteries of our time - that isn't really a mystery. Significantly a check
of Lloyd's of London's accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975
showed that the triangle was a no more dangerous part of the ocean than
many others. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time
no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics. So the
Bermuda Triangle mystery disappeared, in the same way many of its supposed
victims had vanished. No doubt the crews on the Volvo yachts have more
pressing matters on their minds, rather than pondering this maritime
mystery story.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 14, 2207 GMT

PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 19 11.16N 063 23.72W 1019 314 10.4 284 0 0 26/03/02 10:45 37
2 AART 18 54.96N 063 11.28W 1037 317 10.5 285 18 0 26/03/02 12:13 27
3 TYCO 18 52.80N 063 11.32W 1038 316 10.3 286 19 0 26/03/02 12:22 24
4 TSEB 18 22.32N 062 15.48W 1099 325 11.7 321 80 -18 26/03/02 17:28 17
5 AONE 17 53.12N 061 50.44W 1135 325 12.2 323 116 -22 26/03/02 20:25 26
6 NEWS 17 48.96N 061 46.32W 1140 322 12.1 332 121 -23 26/03/02 20:53 22
7 ATOO 17 21.04N 060 55.48W 1196 329 10.8 302 177 -11 27/03/02 01:26 9
8 DJCE 16 57.08N 061 01.32W 1218 317 11.6 324 199 -9 27/03/02 03:24 18