| ABN AMRO ONE SEAL VICTORY AFTER DAY OF HIGH DRAMA |
| Sunday, 05 February 2006 |
ABN AMRO ONE SEAL VICTORY AFTER DAY OF HIGH DRAMA
5 February 2006: ABN AMRO ONE secured an impressive victory out on Port Philip Bay today after a fantastic performance and the closest racing yet, in the third in port race of the Volvo Ocean Race. After a very tight start with two boats over the line, it was all to play for in changeable winds. As the fleet blasted their way up the first beat it was Brasil 1 who took an early lead. However, after some slick teamwork and a slight increase in wind speed in the latter stages of the race it was ABN AMRO ONE who claimed line honours after 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Mike Sanderson was clearly delighted as ABN AMRO ONE pulled into Melbourne’s Docklands: “Inewst was an unbelievable day out there today and a fantastic race. We got a shocking start and had to dig our way out of that but we always knew it was going to be a tricky one as we were going to be in our crossover range where everyone was going to be competitive - we had very little wind in Spain, lots of wind in Cape Town and this was in between. After the start we went well, we nailed a couple of nice shifts and we went nicely against the Pirates so that was good. When it came to it, we got a nice clean lane and we managed to settle down and really sail our own boat which is what we like. The Brazilians did an amazing job coming straight out of the blocks and were going fast. And that was an amazing effort considering that they only put their rig in at 1am this morning, so they were my heroes for the day. But for us, we were all pretty happy to cross the line first and pick up 3.5 more points.”
For their younger brothers on ABN AMRO TWO, who were over the line at the start, it was a tougher day on the water, finishing in 6th place. Having started the Volvo Ocean Race as the under dogs they have proved that they are not only serious contenders but have no intention of bringing up the back of the fleet so today will be a disappointing result for them.
However, the mood onboard was up beat as they reached the dock - skipper Sebastian Josse commented: “Everyone sailed really well, unfortunately we had a couple of small mistakes which was where we lost some ground but it was nothing big, no big deal. We sailed with a big jib on the first leg, so we were overpowered and therefore heeling over a lot - with that sail we can sail high, but not so fast. We then had a small problem with our timing at one of the leeward marks. We had a good call by the tactician [Andrew Lewis] and knew we wanted to put in two gybes and come into the leeward mark on port, but we were going so fast and had a small problem with the lock on the halyard. By the time this was sorted we had lost four seconds, and by five seconds, you’ve travelled two boat lengths. The boat is great, just a couple of small mistakes today.”
Talking about being over the start line Simon Fisher, navigator commented: “It was a bit painful, being OCS [On Course Side] at the start and having to come back, I thought we were good, and Jonny [Gerd Jan Poortman] thought we were good, but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. We had some good legs and were happy with our speed, and everybody kept their chin up. We are not despondent by any means.”
The next leg to Rio de Janeiro starts on Sunday 12th February with a pit-stop in Wellington, New Zealand. The boats are expected to arrive in Wellington on the 16th February and will then depart on the 18th February.
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