illbruck covers Assa in Volvo last leg into Keil

by Ed Adams on 9 Jun 2002 I've been trying to write this email for nearly a day now, but as Crusty
[Mark Christensen] would say, 'There's simply been too much on.'

The wind has gone through nearly 360 degrees twice, gone completely calm
three times, the waypoint list is over 50 long, and there have been big
islands and small shoals lying on the rhumbline (with the fleet split as
to which way to go around them).

You start writing the email, but then the there's Stu [Bannatyne] on the
intercom, 'Ed, could you please update us as to the status on our relative
position to ASSA?' You stop the email, and get on the radar.

Tracking ASSA ABLOY is a full time job, essential because our only tactic
this race is to cover them no matter where they go Every five minutes we
log her range and bearing and analyse the relative VMG or VMC gain or
loss. Wait a minute...it's Crusty again, 'Ed, what's our average cog
[course over ground] been lately? And what's the wind angle likely to be
on the next leg?'

Back to the email. We thought we had ASSA ABLOY put away after our
breakaway start out of Gothenburg Harbour. But Assa is fast and she
quickly sailed from last place to just behind us as the breeze shut off at
Anholt. Hold it, now Juan [Vila] is asking, 'Ed, can you check the tide
set and drift strip charts and compare them to the tide model?'

Three minutes later......back to the email. We were lucky that the fleet
split at Anholt, and it was obvious that only one side could pay (Which
side? I don't think anyone was 100% sure). We covered ASSA ABLOY, and the
three boats that split to the other side (Tyco, News Corp and SEB) got
dropped 15 miles back when the sea breeze swung through the south on its
way to the gradient easterly (if it had swung through the north, our group
would have been dropped).

Anyhow, right now we are struggling to fetch the southern tip of
Langeland, at the entrance of the Kieler Bucht. We're about 35 miles from
the finish, in second place and still covering ASSA ABLOY. Every hour, we
pick up more and more spectator boats. We are now
surrounded.............Oh Oh, here comes JK [John Kostecki], bounding down
the companionway with more energy than seems humanly possible on two hours
of sleep in the past 24. 'Ed, do you have the latest sked (it arrives
every hour)? What's the time to the layline? What are the wind readings
ahead? Any new models, and how about radar and satellite pictures.' (The
Sat B has been live since the start...I shudder to think what the bill
will be) I hand him the keyboard (it's quicker that way). JK continues,
'Why haven't you been on deck to look at the clouds lately?' I start up
topsides and he calls me back, 'You know we have to do a boat email, when
are you going to do that...'