ABN AMRO ONE Dive South

Overnight ABN AMRO ONE gybed south, going from first to last amongst the six VO 70s contesting leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race, as skipper Mike SANDERSON (NZL) begins the tactical manoeuvring. Sebastian JOSSE (FRA) and ABN AMRO TWO have taken over the front running, and things are still tight, with just 43 miles covering the entire fleet.

At 2200 hours UTC last night ABN AMRO ONE held a 16 mile lead over ABN AMRO TWO, but last night they abandoned their more northerly course to gybe south across the fleet and take up a position as the most southerly of the VO 70s this morning. Conversely ABN AMRO TWO remain well north of the rest of the fleet, currently 28 miles ahead of Ericsson in second place.

Pirates are just two miles behind Ericsson, with movistar a further six miles back and forming a small trio positioned in between the more southerly ABN AMRO ONE and more northerly Brasil 1, who occupy fourth place.

Before the gybe south, ABN AMRO ONE skipper SANDERSON hinted at a change of course yesterday saying, ‘For now the big decision on this leg is how to deal with a big low that used to be a tropical storm, there are going to be some interesting tactical decisions needed to be made by the fleet in the next 48 hours.. will make for some fun watching.’

Locking Horns

Aside from the tactical manoeuvring by the Dutch team, the main action in the fleet is between Neal MCDONALD’s (GBR) Ericsson Racing Team and Paul CAYARD‘s (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean.

Position map at 0400 UTC this morning, showing ABN AMRO ONE‘s gybe south © Virual Spectator/Volvo Ocean Race

It is hard not to race against another boat when you can see it and Ericsson and Pirates have been in sight of each other and locking horns for the past 36 hours.

‘We have had a great battle with them [Pirates],’ said Steve HAYLES, the British navigator onboard Ericsson Racing Team. ‘We’ve swapped sides a couple of times and we’ve been going better than them for a good section of it, and then they made a little gain. It’s all down to exactly what sails you’ve got and what the wind is up to. As you make sail changes you loose a little bit, but then hopefully you get it back. It’s been a very interesting battle, we’re very, very similar boats, we’re the same design boat and it’s fairly even.’

CAYARD and his Pirates are sailing with a man down as Craig SATTERTHWAITE (NZL) is still sick in his bunk with tonsillitis, which is not helping the situation with Ericsson Racing Team. ‘We’re having a mini battle with them. In fact we’re having a mini battle with everyone out here,’ said CAYARD last night. ‘We could actually see them [Ericsson Racing Team] a lot of the time. We were see-sawing back and forth. By and large, they have sailed a little bit faster than us in the last 24 hours. ‘

The Food Factor

Bouwe BEKKING’s (NED) Movistar reports that that his crew has packed food for 23 days for this leg. ‘Very conservative, but we don’t want to run out,’ says BEKKING, explaining, ‘That would be a disaster for our bodies not to forget our minds.

‘Food is good for moral and the moral of our troops is good, and we’re ready to take the battle on,’ threatens BEKKING.

Onboard Torben GRAEL‘s (BRA) Brasil 1, the crew has had the sewing machine out, repairing a sail they damaged on the start line. Although they are 68 miles from the leading boat, they have gained nine miles in the last six hour period.

At the head of the fleet, onboard ABN AMRO TWO, the youngster on the second Dutch team were also facing up to the fact that they were approaching crunch time. ‘Before long we will have to commit to which side of the ex-tropical storm we will go,’ explained navigator Simon FISHER (GBR) last night. ‘It is either a long trip up and over the top or a rather nasty upwind beat around the bottom of the system. Until now we have been biding our time and going east as fast we can, while our decision has been unclear, but the sand in the hour glass is running low and will have to hedge our bets and see if the others follow…’

Position Report At 0400 Hours UTC, 21 February 2006

Team	Nation	Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	DTF	DTL	DTLC	CMG	SMG	VMG	ETA
ABN AMRO TWO	NED	Sebastian JOSSE (FRA)	50 14.03S	169 46.01W	6143	0	16	109	17.3	15.3	10/03/2006
Ericsson Racing Team	SWE	Neal MCDONALD (GBR)	51 20.02S	170 30.01W	6171	28	14	117	18.1	14.7	10/03/2006
Pirates of the Caribbean	USA	Paul CAYARD (USA)	51 28.03S	170 34.00W	6173	30	19	114	18.7	14.7	10/03/2006
Brasil 1	BRA	Torben GRAEL (BRA)	50 54.02S	170 43.04W	6178	35	33	97	19.5	14.6	10/03/2006
movistar	ESP	Bouwe BEKKING (NED)	51 18.01S	170 43.02W	6179	36	27	110	19.6	14.6	10/03/2006
ABN AMRO ONE	NED	Mike SANDERSON (NZL)	51 34.09S	170 53.02W	6186	43	-43	153	15.1	14.4	10/03/2006
Brunel	AUS	Grant WHARINGTON (AUS)	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	10/03/2006

DTF: Distance To Finish
DTL: Distance To Leader
DTLC: Distance To Leader Change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll
CMG: Course Made Good; the average course steered over the period of the past six hours up to the time of the last poll
SMG: Speed Made Good
VMG: Velocity Made Good; the average velocity of the boat towards the finish over the entire leg
ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival

Overall Leaderboard
(Up to and including Leg Three)

Pos	Team	Nation	Skipper	Pts
1	ABN AMRO ONE	NED	Mike SANDERSON (NZL)	38.5
2	ABN AMRO TWO	NED	Sebastien JOSSE (FRA)	28
3	movistar	ESP	Bouwe BEKKING (NED)	25
5	Pirates of the Caribbean	USA	Paul CAYARD (USA)	21.5
4	Brasil 1	BRA	Torben GRAEL (BRA)	20
6	Ericsson Racing Team	SWE	Neal MCDONALD (GBR)	16.5
7	ING Real Estate Brunel	AUS	Grant WHARINGTON (AUS)	11.5

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