Rich Roberts Reports
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No Sweat for illbruck -- Last-Gasp Glory for djuice and the Girls By Rich Roberts KIEL---Sweden's Assa Abloy had its days in Gothenburg, as it should
be, but Sunday belonged to Germany's illbruck, Norway's long-suffering
djuice---and how 'bout them girls? Illbruck, with American skipper John Kostecki and a half-New Zealand crew, finished second on the last leg into the Baltic Sea to secure victory and bring sailing's premier offshore event home to a wildly appreciative nation. But the effort was almost upstaged by first-place djuice, which had beaten only the all-woman Amer Sports Too on six of the eight
previous legs, including the last four, and to the women who hadn't beaten anybody until they finished fourth on Sunday---250 meters and 1 minute 20 seconds in front of Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, their partner in the Nautor Challenge. Djuice skipper Knut Frostad said, "The night before I had some dreams about winning. We were just so fast it was unbelievable. For the first time in the race we were the fastest boat!" Amer Sports Too skipper Lisa McDonald was almost as pleased. "It was a nice way to finish for the team because we always knew we had it in us," she said. "We've battled with drama on the high seas, as well late preparation and all of the things that went along with that. It's just a pity we haven't got a few more legs." Dalton said, "Well, I think it was quite decent of us to let the girls ahead of us. It sort of adds to the story. Seriously, they sailed a really leg." Assa Abloy, which already had second place overall secured and hoped against hope that illbruck might stumble, finished third, while Sweden's SEB, Australia's News Corp and Bermuda's Tyco straggled home in the Baltic twilight. Assa Abloy navigator Mark Rudiger e-mailed earlier in the day, with the outcome obvious, "It still feels to me that the race ended in Gothenburg and we are doing an exhibition race to Kiel." But what an exhibition. After the massive flotilla that sent them away from Sweden a day earlier, the leaders found another several hundred boats aligned as an honor guard and an estimated 120,000 Germans lining the shore along the city side of the river into Kiel. Djuice received a suitable ovation, but illbruck an explosion of horns and fireworks as it crossed the line, all but obscured by the escort spectator fleet. "It was a great welcome into Kiel," Kostecki said, "an awesome moment." Kostecki, 37, who won an Olympic silver medal in 1988 and 10 world championships in various classes, is the second consecutive American skipper to win the event, following Paul Cayard's unprecedented U.S. success aboard EF Language in 1997-98. "The second San Franciscan!" Kostecki corrected a reporter.
year.
Asked about the next role in his plans, then, Kostecki replied, "Uh . . .couch potato." Illbruck had won four of the eight legs but suffered its worst showings---fourth place---on the three shortest legs, so Assa Abloy had hope. The last leg of the 32,700-nautical mile race was only 220 miles but was plagued, as predicted, by light wind. Kostecki drove illbruck into a quick lead that looked like a runaway, but the contest soon became a scramble. Were the illbruck sailors ever worried? "Obviously, we had only one boat on our minds," navigator Juan Vila said Kostecki said, "Assa passed us, but worst case they had to put several boats in between. They never were winning the Volvo Ocean Race." Because of the forecast that there would be no heavy-duty sailing, three boats went with fewer than their maximum crews of 12---djuice in the extreme by leaving three bodies, five of their usual complement of 17 sails and other accessories ashore. Skipper Knut Frostad said, "We have taken off anything we don't need to have for the rules. The boat is just completely empty inside. It paid off. When the wind died prior to rounding Anholt Island, we felt fast and sailed away from Amer Sports One." But the ploy didn't help two other boats that went light. News Corp and Tyco, along with SEB, split from the pack to take the shorter western route around Anholt Island. They outsmarted themselves. When the wind died they had to anchor to keep from drifting backward in the current. Navigator Peter Isler of San Diego, who rejoined News Corp for his second leg of the race, said, "As we sailed toward the Danish shore the wind dropped off and headed us, so we were no longer steering course. Worse than that, the GPS told us that we were actually sailing away from the mark, necessitating the call for the anchor. "For two hours we battled a knot and a quarter of foul tide without enough wind to make forward progress---anchor firmly in the mud. SEB and Tyco were nearby and anchored, too. But the group to the east never stopped." Djuice's time for the leg was one day 3 hours 42 minutes 30 seconds. The Norwegians finished about 35 minutes ahead of illbruck, then it was nearly two hours to Assa Abloy, 4 ½ minutes to Amer Sports Too and a minute and 20 seconds to Amer Sports One. Final points: illbruck, 61; Assa Abloy, 55; Amer Sports One, 44. Tyco and News Corp were still fighting it out for fourth place overall, while djuice climbed up to sixth with 33, leaving SEB seventh, followed by Amer Sports Too, 16. Illbruck's rotating crew for the race: Ed Adams, tactician; Stu
Bannatyne, watch captain; Stu (Waffler) Bettany, bow; Mark (Crusty)
Christensen, watch captain; Richard Clarke, trimmer/helmsman; Ray (Hooray)
Davies, trimmer/helmsman; Dirk (Cheese) de Ridder, trimmer; Noel (Nitro)
Drennan, More information: www.volvooceanrace.org |
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