Sea, Sail & Surf newsVolvo Ocean Race / Leg 6
CHESS - The Next Move
mardi 16 avril 2002 –
As the boats have spent most of this leg so far on a reach, this has meant that with different sail inventories, they have each had to position themselves in the most advantageous sector of the race track for their optimum point of fast sailing for their individual sail designs. In addition, they must take into consideration the rest of the fleet, the current (Gulf Stream) and importantly the final moves in the closing stages for the last 120 nautical miles in Chesapeake Bay towards the finish in Baltimore.
The Gulf Stream, which is sometimes referred to as the North Equatorial Current, starts in the Caribbean, where the water, expanded by heat, pushes into the Gulf of Mexico. There it heats up further and expands, escaping through the Florida Straits and on to the east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, continuing on across the North Atlantic to northern Europe. Its velocity can be calculated at around an astonishing 80 miles per day and for this reason it is an extremely important factor in the navigators‚ calculations.
Roger Nilson, on Amer Sports One, was concerned that for no apparent reason, they had fallen out of the maximum effect of the Gulf Stream, "We are four boats very close together, within two nautical miles. News Corp just behind [us] and illbruck and ASSA ABLOY close in front. This leading group lost the free ride of the Gulf Stream late last night, but half an hour ago we found the southern edge of the Stream again, getting 1.5 knots setting north northeast. This temporary loss of the stream was not really predicted and caught us by surprise. Yesterday we enjoyed 4 knots of hot Stream pushing us north, but as the breeze lifted on starboard gybe we slowly sailed out of it."
It is a game of balance with the wind, however, and he continued, "SEB, Tyco and djuice stayed further west, most likely in a better stream, but lost a lot during the last three hours. They got stuck with less wind, underneath some big clouds that often form over the hot Stream. Amer Sports Too has chosen a radical easterly route, outside the Gulf Stream, but could come out of it well, if the wind goes into the south west or west south west as predicted."
In the last race Brunel Synergy sailed outside the Gulf Stream and favoured by the wind, pulled some 100 nautical miles distance on the rest of the fleet, before Chesapeake. The navigator from Brunel Synergy, Stuart Quarrie, emphasised, "The Gulf Stream gives a speed boost of around four knots to boats that follow its path, so one has to be pretty sure of oneself not to take advantage of its power."
Over the last 24 hours, once again the fleet has split into two groups plus the single yacht Amer Sports Too. The first four yachts, illbruck, ASSA ABLOY, Amer Sports One and News Corp managed to get away from the trailing trio SEB, Tyco and djuice, which were once again trapped by a black rain cloud. Meanwhile the gamble taken onboard Amer Sports Too was not going to pay off after all.
News Corp has moved back into first, a position they haven’t seen for some time. They managed to sail a deeper course and were pushed by the Gulf Stream this bit further north. As a gybe to the north has to follow soon, the two-mile gap they have opened up will give little comfort. ASSA ABLOY, an early leader of this leg has moved into fourth on the right lane they have chosen. They have already gybed to the north as the wind has gone all the way to the southwest.
SEB with double gold medal winner Mark Reynolds on board has taken control of the close opposition Tyco and djuice. Tyco in sixth at the last report has a lot of pressure to get a top result and not fall behind the group of yachts that are fighting for the top overall places.
Amer Sports Too was the first yacht to gybe onto port tack and is biting the bullet to sail into the back of the whole fleet.
The final stretch in Chesapeake Bay towards the finish in Baltimore could prove extremely tricky with fickle winds and complicated currents and eddies and the challenge for the fleet is who will finally achieve ’checkmate’ at the finish line !
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 1000 GMT
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 NEWS 32 51.04N 076 25.52W 413 54 10.9 256 0 0 18/04/02 03:18 31
2 ILBK 32 49.56N 076 24.92W 415 56 10.7 253 2 +2 18/04/02 03:26 43
3 AONE 32 49.64N 076 27.00W 415 55 10.6 254 2 +1 18/04/02 03:29 31
4 AART 32 47.72N 076 27.68W 417 51 10.4 249 4 +1 18/04/02 03:41 33
5 TSEB 32 40.48N 076 56.00W 434 54 11.3 233 21 -2 18/04/02 05:20 21
6 TYCO 32 37.52N 076 54.12W 436 52 11.3 232 23 -2 18/04/02 05:32 27
7 DJCE 32 35.72N 077 00.96W 440 48 11.4 231 27 -3 18/04/02 05:57 21
8 ATOO 32 10.60N 076 39.92W 456 16 7.4 214 43 +7 18/04/02 07:31 9
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