Dee Smith comments

The man who Paul Cayard has replaced gives his view from the bench on Volvo's leg four

Paul Cayard and Dee Smith prior to the start... definitely one for a caption competition

Amer Sports One tactician Dee Smith is sitting out leg four while he recuperates from surgery on his right shoulder. In Auckland before the start he worked with his stand-in Paul Cayard, navigator Roger Nilson and weatherman Roger Badham on the plan for the leg. Here Dee gives his commentry on this leg:

Nilson and Amer Sports One, or the Fat Bottom Girl, does have a small high-speed problem that we have seen in past legs. We have worked very hard with our angles and sails to overcome this we saw a good improvement on leg three. Building on even more data in Auckland we came up with some more ideas
that I'm sure have helped over the past few days.

From my view here in an airport lounge, holding on to our top-three position is great after taking the lead for a while by gybing on the first wind shift.

Boats that went the furthest south left themselves without options going east. Everyone knows there is more wind in the south. But using the wind shifts to their best advantage to get south is how you get ahead.

Illbruck and Amer Sports One showed this over the last few days. Amer Sports One got south with a good shift and cut the corner as they went. Illbruck did as they always do, let one boat hit the corner and not risk their race lead.

If Amer Sports One had come out way ahead, they would have lost only one point. If the boats to the south had gained, Illbruck could have dived hard to stay in touch - very smart sailing. Amer Sports One's risk was not great, because they went for the shift and were sailing straight for the mark. Being patient for the shift is very important.

Now all the boats are in their lane in the south. From all the data I've seen, the rich (leading yachts) should be fine and I don't see any real advantage. In two to four days the boats in the north might have a bit more wind. This will look good for Illbruck and Amer Sports One. Tyco is sailing fast but from their southern position might be sailing in lighter air for the next couple of days.

None of this will matter much because I see the leading boats stopping after Cape Horn. The race from the Horn to Rio will decide the leg. It is hard to
tell this far out but there should be a high-pressure system that will park the leaders on the rhumb line.

The big question will be where to go at the Horn. Straight up the line inside the Falklands or a little longer but maybe much faster outside. Brunel and Chessie went from zeros to heros here in the last race. Everyone out there knows it can happen. There will be a lot of nerves on edge in the nav stations as they look hard for the right reasons to go either way.

I see illbruck leading at the Horn. Amer Sports One, Tyco and News Corp will be within 50 miles. illbruck will have to decide first and Kostecki will be conservative. The other three should stay close together. News Corp will hit one side or the other. Tyco and Amer Sports One will sail a more general course, but together. Boats further behind will be trying to make an educated flyer.

With more than 2000 miles to the finish, it will still be anyone's race.

Dee