Volvo Fleet Receives Royal Send Off From New York

In front of a spectacular backdrop and with H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden looking on, leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 got underway. In light winds, the trick at the start was not to get carried over the line early by the tide.

The only American entry in the race, Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by American Paul CAYARD (USA), excelled in front of a home crowd and was one of the first to cross the line followed by the Australian entry Brunel under the new leadership of Matt HUMPHRIES (GBR).

The building breeze quickly carried The Pirates of the Caribbean off towards the turning mark at the Statue of Liberty, with Brunel, Neal MCDONALD’S (GBR) Ericsson and Brasil 1, skippered by five times Olympic medallist Torben GRAEL (BRA), in hot pursuit.

The light wind start gave the two ABN AMRO boats a disadvantage and as the four Farr designed boats moved quickly away from the line, both Mike SANDERSON’S (NZL) ABN AMRO ONE and Sebastien JOSSE’S (FRA) ABN AMRO TWO, designed by Juan KOUJOUMDJIAN, were left behind.

As the Volvo Open 70s passed the turning mark, the order had not changed and Pirates of the Caribbean had a small 19 second lead over Brunel. The first four boats rounded within a minute of each other with ABN AMRO ONE turning more than two minutes later just in front of team mates ABN AMRO TWO.

As the fleet headed out towards Ambrose Light Tower, movistar skippered by Bouwe BEKKING (NED) was in hot pursuit. Starting two hours later than the fleet, after taking a time penalty to fix the winch system that broke during the last leg, movistar was quickly doing 16 knots off the start line and took just eight minutes to reach the turning mark.

The wind looks set to build throughout the night providing some bumpy conditions for the fleet during their first 24 hours at sea. The seven Volvo Open 70s will be racing hard all the way to the scoring gate at Lizard Point, the most southerly point of mainland Britain, before heading through the Solent to Portsmouth.

The yachts are expected to arrive into Portsmouth, England, around  20 May 2006 where they will base themselves at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth.

Position Report At 0400 Hours UTC, 12 May 2006