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Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4 Preview - Cape Horn to port
Author: Volvo Ocean Race Media
It's back into the freezing Southern Ocean for the crews when they start the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, 6,700 nautical miles from Auckland, New Zealand, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday January 27th, 13h00 local time.
This is the leg of the race that takes the fleet around Cape Horn, a very symbolic landmark for seafarers, and back up into the South Atlantic, and it is the last of the long ocean passages.
For Jez Fanstone, skipper of News Corp, currently in third place, it will be the second time he passes Cape Horn. "It is a great place to sail; it is a scary place, but at the same time, it's a very exhilarating place," he says.
But for many, this will be their first time rounding the famous Cape. Will they take a little alcohol to pour into the sea in honour of the sailors who have lost their lives there in years gone past? Will they pierce their left ear and wear a golden earring as they have earned the right to do?
First, the teams have to get there, and this competitive fleet of eight boats will be pushing hard all the way. Only djuice, currently in seventh, and Amer Sports Too, in eighth, have yet to finish a leg among the top three. They are only too aware that, unless they are averaging 18 knots or so in the Southern Ocean, they are probably going to get left behind. "We, as a fleet, were scattered like marbles as we hooked a tow on the first windy system moving eastward, setting the stage for the wildest ride I have ever experienced" wrote Nick Maloney from onboard Toshiba during the Cape Horn leg of the last race.
Much of this leg will be raced in the high latitudes, where the best measurement of wind speed is the helmsman's face. During the Cape Horn leg of the last race, Knut Frostad wrote, "Hell isn't over yet. There is more wind to come."
Wind is what the Volvo Ocean racers want, and plenty of it! They will search for the depressions and strong winds of the roaring forties and the screaming fifties. The most direct route would take the fleet to 65 degrees south, increasing the risk of icebergs and very cold weather significantly. Too far south and they run the real risk of being to the south of the depressions and finding strong headwinds. In the last round-the-world race, Gurra Krantz took Swedish Match to 60.03 degrees south.
Krantz, now skipper of SEB, says that his team has taken the whole boat apart and checked and serviced everything in preparation for the next leg. "It's good to be on top of the game when it comes to having a boat in perfect shape for the Southern Ocean" he explains.
The sailing will be fast, with mainly following winds, until Cape Horn, where the seas and the wind will funnel between Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic peninsular. The weather can feature some of the roughest conditions in the world before the fleet turns hard left and enters the South Atlantic.
"The Southern Ocean is always a pretty wild place" says Neal McDonald, skipper of leg three winner, Assa Abloy. "One thing we do know is that we will see plenty of wind and we will see big waves. The unexpected things that will crop up will be icebergs, secondary lows that you get on the wrong side of and end up on the wind - all those nasty things are there and always will be."
Cape Horn marks the dividing line between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Atlantic to the east. The Cape is the southernmost point of a not-very-large island and therefore is not part of the landmass of South America being separated from Tierra del Fuego by the Beagle Channel. Tierra del Fuego itself is separated from S. America by the Straits of Magellan.
Once round Cape Horn and heading north, the winds become lighter and more variable. "You go from wild and cold to possibly very humid, hot and thundery" explains Neal McDonald. "You have to cater for all those conditions with sail selection, food, clothing. It's the leg that takes the most organisation, and, statistically, it is the leg that causes the most carnage" he added cheerfully.
Crew changes for leg four of the Volvo Ocean Race:
AMER SPORTS ONE
Off Dee Smith (USA)
On Paul Cayard (USA)
AMER SPORTS TOO
Off Genevieve White (AUS)
Off Sharon Ferris (NZ)
Off Melissa Purdy (USA)
On Miranda Merron (UK)
On Emma Richards (UK)
Carolijn Brouwer (NED)
ASSA ABLOY Racing Team
On Roberto Bermudez de Castro (SPAIN)
On Joshua Alexander (NZ)
Off Chris Larson (USA)
Off Jason Carrington (UK)
Djuice Dragons
Off Erle Williams (NZ)
Off David Blanchfield (AUS)
Off Steve Gruver (USA)
Off Espen Guttormsen (NOR)
On Thomas Coville (FRA)
On Peter Merrington (AUS)
On Grant Wharington (AUS)
illbruck Challenge
NO CHANGES
Team News Corp
Off Peter Isler (USA)
Off Jon Gunderson (NZ)
On Nick White (NZ)
On Nigel King (UK)
Team SEB
On David Rolfe (NZ)
On Pascal Bidegorry (FRA)
On Anthony Merrington (AUS)
Off Matthew Humphries (UK)
Off Tony Rey (USA)
Off Sean Clarkson (NZ)
Team Tyco
On Damion Foxall (IRE)
Off Richard Dodson (NZ)
More Information:
- YachtsandYachting.com Volvo Ocean Race Information Page
- www.VolvoOceanRace.org
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