Wellington to Rio de Janeiro
15 March 2006

The Volvo Ocean Race yachts battled high winds and rough seas as they pounded round the Cape Horn on their way to completing the leg in Rio.

From leaving Wellington, New Zealand, the Volvo Ocean Race yachts spent around 25 days at sea and rounded the notorious Cape Horn before making their way into Rio de Janeiro for a well-earned rest.  ABN AMRO ONE was the first yacht to cross the Rio finishing line, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean; ABN AMRO TWO; Brasil 1 and Ericsson in fifth place.

Brasil battles trough rough seas to Rio

From the start line inNew Zealand's Lambton Harbour, in front of the Wellington waterfront, the fleet rounded buoys off Lambton and Newlands, before heading out through the narrow entrance to Wellington Harbour and then turning to port for the passage to Cape Horn.  Once clear of the constraints of the Cook Strait, the fleet headed straight into the Southern Ocean, but the decision is how fast and how dramatically to head south for the shorter course and the stronger winds. The boats passed between the Chatham and Bounty Islands entering nothing but cold, grey water – and the odd iceberg – all the way to Cape Horn.

In past races there have been no restrictions on the course sailed by the boats as they head for the Horn, but this time there is an ice waypoint at 55 degrees south and 120 degrees west that had to be passed to starboard. This waypoint prevented the boats going too deep into the screaming sixties and from getting too close to the major iceberg areas.  All the time the Southern Ocean leg was going on, navigators and skippers watched the weather systems coming up from astern. The Volvo Open 70 can hook in to the average depression and sail on the front of it fast enough to stay with the system for days on end. 

In the old days of the early Whitbread races, the lows and their associated fronts overtook the boats, beat the living daylights out of them as they passed on, leaving them wallowing, battered and bruised in their wake. Now, careful planning and a wary eye over your left shoulder means that the VO 70 can keep a spinnaker up, stay on the front the system and ride for days on the strong, favourable winds.  One major factor in this leg was ice. All the boats fear ice more than even strong winds. The saying "Icebergs go to sleep at night," is more a nerve calmer than a fact and spotting ice at night is always fraught with problems. 

The big bergs usually show up on the radar, but the growlers and bergy bits – small pieces of ice varying in size between a small car and a large lorry – are invisible, but can sink a boat. In daylight a lookout up by the mast guides the helmsman; at night guidance is in the lap of the Gods.

After the traumas of the Southern Ocean, Cape Horn, that notorious southern termination of the American continent, can sometimes seem less than dramatic, but the weather can change here with frightening speed. The compression of the huge Southern Ocean swells between the peninsulas of the Antarctic continent and the Cape, the sudden shallowing of the water from thousands of metres to mere hundreds, the proximity of the mountains of Patagonia, all combine to create a meteorological flashpoint.

Movistar crew member Fernado Echavarri

After the Horn, the Straits of La Marie cause a compression of the fleet, with island-sized rafts of weed and a counter current to complicate matters. Next on the list of hurdles to be overcome was the Falklands Islands. Rafts of kelp still cause problems here around the islands, as do fleets of fishing boats vacuum cleaning the seas of squid - and just about everything else that swims.

After the Falklands, the light and variable wind often predominates from here to the mouth of the River Plate. The estuary of the Plate itself also causes some trauma to the wind, and boats suffering in light winds will have a decision to make: close inshore to get the effect of the land and sea breezes, offshore to maximise on the gradient wind emanating from the main weather systems.

From the Plate to Rio the battle is between the boats and the expected light winds. Anyone with anything of a lead over another boat was constantly worried that some vagary of the wind will turn a lead into a deficit.  The final miles into Rio will do nothing to calm frayed nerves. Traditionally the wind dies on the approach and the current here can set into the beach. At the end of this leg the crews have earned every penny of their fees.

While in Rio, the boats will compete in an in-port race on March 25. The race is expected to run from Baía de Guanabara, the inner harbour to the east of the town of Rio de Janeiro. The start will probably be at the southern end of the bay to give a windward leg towards the North.

TIME TRAVEL

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet went backwards yesterday, performing a spot of time travel as they crossed the International Date Line on the second full day of the Wellington to Rio de Janeiro fourth stage.

"We don't change our clocks, and most of the crew doesn't even know what day it is out here. Our life is that simple," Paul Cayard reported from Pirates of the Caribbean as the fleet ran deep into the Roaring Forties.

Movistar crew member Mike Howard

Barrelling along at high speeds, Pirates spent much of yesterday in view of Neal McDonald's Ericsson, a useful duel as each crew will learn a little about the other's sails and trim.

Once again it was Mike Sanderson's overall race leader, ABN Amro One, that impressed Cayard. "The rest of the fleet go pretty much the same speed and you can see when someone makes a good move relative to the weather. With ABN One, they are just plain fast," Cayard reported as the fleet spread out over a 50-mile front north to south.

Over the past six hours ABN AMROs ONE and TWO have worked north slightly - well, actually they have not sailed as much to the south as the rest of the fleet - but the upshot of their game plan is that these two leaders are now 50 nautical miles north of Ericsson in third.

Ericsson has continued its encouraging charge, taking another two miles off Pirates of the Caribbean, but losing 15 miles on ABN AMRO ONE in the process - largely due to the easting made by the leaders.

movistar has made up more ground on the fleet, taking advantage of Brasil 1's sail limitations to get into fifth place. movistar might not be at the front of the fleet where she would like to be, but she is in the pack now and subject to the same vagaries of wind and weather as all the other boats.

Unsurprisingly, ABN AMRO ONE has the best 24 hour run at 444 miles, an average sped of 18.5 knots for the period. Ericsson has racked up 419 miles in 24 hours, one more than Pirates and movistar.

This afternoon only Paul Cayard on Pirates of the Caribbean has sent an email, "ABN AMRO ONE continues to impress with her speed. The rest of the fleet goes pretty much the same speed and you can see when someone makes a good move relative to the weather. With ABN AMRO ONE they are just plain fast. They have averaged almost one knot faster than the rest of us today, sailing in identical conditions. It has been a bit reachy and that is their strong suit as they have a lot of form stability."

Leg Positions - DTF
ABN AMRO ONE, 6227
ABN AMRO TWO, +16
Ericsson Racing Team , +42
Pirates of the Caribbean, +49
movistar, +63
Brasil 1, +68
Brunel, DNS

Leg 4 finish at Rio de Janeiro

7 BOATS SEPTEMBER 2005 START ............... HOW MANY WILL COMPLETE

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