November 12, 2001

Tyco Leads; illbruck Bails

November 12 – Cape Town, South Africa

Under a clear blue sky and brilliant sun
with twenty knots of wind, the grueling Southern Ocean Leg 2
of the Volvo Ocean Race began at 1100 GMT on Sunday.

After several minutes of jockeying for
position at the pin end of the line the eight starboard tacked
Volvo Open 60s, led by Knut Frostad’s Davidson-designed djuice,
crossed the Cape Town start line bound for Sydney, Australia.

Then, last night, the immaculately-prepared
illbruck’s best laid plans went badly awry, as skipper
John Kostecki reports, “The fleet was all in sight as we
all were heading south past the Cape of Good Hope. We were changing
to our smaller heavy air jib as the wind built to 30-35 knots.

“Then, all of sudden, we noticed that
the boat was not going very well and felt sluggish. The bow seemed
to be lower than normal and started taking waves more frequently.
Rosco [Ross Halcrow] went to check the bow hatch, to see if we
had a water problem. He came back on deck with a fright. He could
not open the hatch because of the amount of water in the forward
tank ahead of the watertight bulkhead.

“The boat got slower and slower and
then we could not keep her going anymore. We went into irons
as we were trying to figure out why the bow was sinking so fast.
We eventually found out an inspection port on the bow just behind
the headstay came off somehow. The entire forward tank was full
of water and we had to stop racing.

“We dropped the jib, moved all of
our gear below and above deck as far aft as possible to stop
the bow from sinking further. After trying several different
modes of sailing we eventually found that backing down was the
best way to keep the bow area out of the waves. We started the
emergency pump and start getting the water out and bailed with
buckets from on deck. It took nearly two hours to control the
situation before we could start racing again. This all took place
at night in 30-35 knots as our competitors sailed away.”
illbruck gave up 20 miles to the leaders.

Strong easterly winds generated around
the south of a low pressure system positioned just east of Cape
Town made for difficult conditions overnight, severely testing
crews readjusting to life at sea.

Rough seas are generated with only moderate
winds in the area of the Agulhas Cap, which is the confluence
of three ocean currents (the Agulhas, Benguela and Southern Ocean
Current). Add 35-knot headwinds and the seas become very tricky
to negotiate. The good news is that the winds have already moderated
today, the leader Tyco reporting winds of 12 knots. The
forecast is for “light and shifty.”

America’s Cup tactician Terry Hutchinson
is making a big impact onboard djuice, which is presently
in second place, sailing within sight of Tyco, as they
head southeast.

YOTREPS

November 12 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/

Weather Updates

November 12 – Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather: WET!

To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.