High Speeds

As leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race passes its half way stage, Gunnar Krantz’s record-breaking Team SEB crew is still in the lead with a ten mile advantage over Neal McDonald’s ASSA ABLOY.

While speeds and daily distances have generally moderated from yesterday’s record breaking runs, ASSA ABLOY cranked up the pace for one hour at least during the night, sailing 21.9 miles in 60 minutes. “The waves lined up perfectly and we set a new record for ASSA ABLOY. For one hour we averaged 21.9 knots,” explained navigator Mark Rudiger.

This average could produce a record 525.6 mile day if they had held onto the same conditions for the next 23 hours.

“We hit 30 knots plus on the GPS [Global Positioning System] several times. The speedo at that point is out of the water and reading apparent wind speed instead,” joked ‘Rudi’.

After a week in the deep south, Team News Corp and djuice have started to make their way northeast to converge with the leading trio. The fleet will soon make their way towards Eclipse Island off Australia’s south west tip.

Volvo Ocean Race Position Report Leg Two, Day 11, 10.00hrs GMT:

PSYachtLatitude LongitudeDTFCMGSMGTFHRDTLDTL-C ETA PO
1TSEB48 37.84S092 27.28E319508816.54220+0000002 DEC 01 11
2AART48 48.40S092 18.92E320509918.442710+0000002 DEC 01 11
3ILBK49 18.36S092 39.84E320609218.542211-0000402 DEC 01 14
4NEWS49 35.36S092 08.24E323307515.239438+0000302 DEC 01 11
5DJCE49 23.36S091 53.68E323507815.539940+0000102 DEC 01 6
6AONE48 24.96S086 41.88E340207915.4342207+0000103 DEC 01 10
7ATOO48 16.40S075 58.56E381704811.5329622+0003804 DEC 01 3