Tricky Calculations in Battle for Fourth

by Press Release on 27 Mar 2002 Day 18, Leg 5, 26th March 2002, 2000GMT 25 82N 078 01W: Tricky
calculations are the name of the game as Team News Corp plots her course
across the Florida Strait and into Miami tonight.

The remaining 140 miles to the finish line for the navigators and tacticians
on Team News Corp is what Double Jeopardy is to a game show contestant. It’s
tense and tricky. There are two other boats to cover, the winds are getting
lighter and Gulf Stream is pushing North, hindering the yachts as make their
home run.

“It’s a tough game out there,” said Team News Corp shore-based meterologist,
Nick White. “We’ll see Team News Corp play every tiny wind-shift as they
approach the Great Isaac lighthouse and line up for Miami. Every metre will
count. They’ve then got a very tricky situation on their hands.

“The winds are going to drop off - perhaps as low as 4 or 5 knots. Great
Isaac is on the edge of the Gulf Stream which is the final barrier to the
Miami finish line. The current is running up the coast at 2 - 3 knots on its
outside edges and speeds up to 4 knots down its centre. We’ll see Team News
Corp not only playing the wind shifts out there, but also calculating the
impossible - what is the optimum angle to cross the current in the smallest
amount of time. Adding to this calculation is the fact that they’ve got a
boat either side of them. It’s tricky - very tricky.”

White’s predictions for the final fight for fourth? “Absolutely anything
could happen out there. The guys on board will be looking at the
calculations for the Gulf Stream now, They’ll plot their course and go for
it. There will be an element of tic-tac-toe as the three boats cover each
other, but at the end of the day we’re making great speed and there is only
four miles to take fourth from SEB.”

Team News Corp, with co-skippers Ross Field (NZ) and Jez Fanstone (UK) at
the helm, has sailed 4400 miles in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio
de Janeiro to Miami. After leading soon out of the Rio start, Team News Corp
got strangled in a wind-hole in the Doldrums. For 18 hours, the boat was
left with no wind and Team News Corp was left in seventh position.

Fighting hard, the Team exited the Doldrums and in the brisk North Easterly
trade winds made their way back up the fleet. In spite of the failure of
on-board satellite systems, leaving Team News Corp with no weather data, the
Australian boat pushed up the ranks. Superior boat speed saw Team News Corp
take Amer Sports One yesterday afternoon and today her sites are firmly set
on a fourth place.

In the last two hours, Team News Corp has opened a 14 miles safety barrier
between herself and Amer Sports One while she moved three miles closer to
SEB, four miles ahead.

Rankings today:

1. illbruck

2. Assa Abloy 01 miles behind leader

3. TYCO 12 miles behind leader

4. Team SEB 47 miles behind leader

5. Team News Corp 51 miles behind leader

6. Amer Sports One 65 miles behind leader

7. Djuice Dragons 191 miles behind leader

8. Amer Sports Too 292 miles behind leader