Heading for the Big Apple

We review what's happening in the Volvo Ocean Race

Leg six of the nine leg Volvo Ocean Race gets underway today (tonight GMT). While the boats finished the leg up from Brazil in Baltimore, on Thursday they made a parade of sail the short distance down the Chesapeake to the local picture postcard yachting hub of Annapolis, that is also home to those titans of the race Farr Yacht Design and host of today's start.

At 400 miles, leg six is the shortest in this Volvo Ocean Race and will conclude with a two day pitstop in New York before the boats set off on leg seven cross the North Atlantic to Portsmouth. As with the Wellington pitstop the teams will not be allowed to have 'outside assistance' while they are in New York and therefore will be leaving Baltimore fully stocked and ready to roll for the transatlantic passage. Allowing no 'outside assistance' in New York will almost certainly once again lead to the amusing scenario where sailing teams are allowed to work on their boats (but only using gear they already have on board) while their shore crew merrily shout advice and 'words of encouragement' while whopping it up in the nearest bar. It will also once again leave the race open to an ' Ericsson in Wellington' scenario where for example if Brunel decides essential work needs to be carried out she could opt not to finish leg six until this work is complete.

Tactically this next leg is nothing special but could prove interesting thanks to the mix of conditions. It is entirely possible it will be won or lost in the Chesapeake. This is of particular concern to Mike Sanderson and Seb Josse, skippers of the ABN AMRO boats which to date have proved themselves sticky compared to their Farr-designed rivals when wind speeds are single figure. And this is exactly what is forecast for the start..6 knots from the northeast, relatively warm, but 'partly cloudy' ie with little chance of a sea breeze developing. With this forecast the concern will be not over whether the ABN AMRO boats will be behind, but by how much when they turn left out of the Chesapeake Bay and whether there is enough runway left and conditions are right for them to catch up by the time the fleet finishes in New York on Tuesday. While the run down the Chesapeake will be a light, deep port favoured run, the story looks likely to be entirely different tonight when the boats leave the Chesapeake when they are forecast to be presented with a nice 25-30 knots ENEly thanks to a low pressure system developing to the south over the Carolinas. Thus the passage north will be a starboard tack fetch, before rounding New Jersey and heading into the Hudson River. The shortest course is to hug the shore as there is little current benefit to be had heading offshore as the Gulf Stream separates from the coast further south at Cape Hatteras. Thus it will probably turn into a straightforward ABN AMRO 'luvin' it with my big daggerboards' drag race to New York except that initially on Monday the boats will be sailing into less pressure the further north they go. The pressure over the leg north will be entirely dependent upon the speed of track of the low which is forecast to head northeast out to sea, beginning its passage across the North Atlantic over the next 48 hours. It is likely the wind will be fully on the nose by the time the boats reach the Hudson.

Obviously a new addition to this leg compared to the previous one will be Grant Warrington's Brunel.She is much modified since she left the race in Melbourne. Her ridiculous fixed down canard with trim tab has now thankfully been junked in favour of the more typical twin asymmetric daggerboard arrangement. However with a large number of her crew new on board and having been out of the loop since Australia we would be very surprised if the boat makes any impression on the race despite her mods. It should be noted that in terms of overall points Brunel has not re-joined the race, she is being viewed as a new entry. This is why she only has 0.5 points on the board to date from last weekend's in port race.

In terms of the officially sanctioned job lists, there is little of obvious interest this stopover:

Date	Team	Item
14/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Replace D1's (only modification is length and attachment method)
20/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Replace rudder (like for like - subject to RMG weigh and measure)
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO TWO	Repair leak
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO TWO	Add bilge pump filter and housing
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO TWO	Repair radar bracket
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO TWO	Modify bulb (removal of weight)
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO ONE	Repair cabin top
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO ONE	Repair leaks
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO ONE	Repair companionway hatch
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO ONE	Repair steering platform
20/04/2006	ABN AMRO ONE	Repair safety gear mounts
21/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Approval dated 05 Mar 06 to add new inner forestay attachment point
		to mast is rescinded. Modifications of the mast tube made prior to 1500 local time
		on April 21 are allowed.
21/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Modify jib halyard lock mechanism
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Add new inner forestay tensioner
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Modify port halyard tunnel
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Add jammers
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Repair bunks
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Repair leak
22/04/2006	Pirates of the Caribbean	Repair dagger board
24/04/2006	Ericsson	Modify foreguy system (additional padeye)
24/04/2006	Ericsson	Repair dagger board box
24/04/2006	Ericsson	Add jammer
24/04/2006	Ericsson	Add padeyes
24/04/2006	Ericsson	Repair bunks
28/04/2006	Brunel	Modify jib sheeting point padeye location
28/04/2006	Brunel	Add mainsheet padeye

Crew-wise the most signficant change once again is on Ericsson. We are happy for Neal McDonald that a disappointing fifth place on the leg up to Baltimore sort of proved that putting the previous Volvo Ocean Race winner and his wingman (John Kostecki and Ross Halcrow) into the driving seat of their boat made no difference to the result. The problem remains the boat and specifically the sail inventory. For this leg however there will be a completely new dynamic on board. Navigator Steve Hayles has stepped off and in his place is Mark Rudiger who raced as McDonald's navigator on board Assa Abloy four years ago. Aside from Kostecki, Ross Halcrow is also off as is Spanish veteran round the worlder Guillermo Altadill, replaced by sailmaking heavyweights Richard Bouzaid and America's Cup helmsman Kenny Read, a man generally not known for being out after dark and Aussie race veteran Barney Walker who previously was racing with Wharington's team.

There is no change to the line-up on board ABN AMRO One, ABN AMRO Two, Brasil 1 and Pirates. Movistar sees the departure of sailmaker Noel Drennan back to BMW Oracle Racing, replaced by the powerful form of one time Frank Sinatra/Elvis bodyguard 'big' Mike Howard.

Crew lists - Leg 6 Annapolis – New York

ABN AMRO ONE
Mike Sanderson (NZ) – Skipper
Stan Honey (USA) – Navigator
Brad Jackson (NZ)
Mark Christensen (NZ)
Tony Mutter (NZ)
Sidney Gavignet (FRA)
David Endean (NZ)
Jan Dekker (RSA)
Robert Greenhalgh (GBR)
Justin Slattery (IRL)

ABN AMRO TWO
Sebastien Josse (FRA) – Skipper
Simon Fisher (GBR) – Navigator
Andrew Lewis (USA)
George Peet (USA)
Lucas Brun (BRA)
Hans Horrevoets (NED)
Luke Molloy (AUS)
Nick Bice (AUS)
Scott Beavis (NZ)
Simeon Tienpont (NED)

Brasil 1
Torben Grael (BRA) – Skipper
Marcel van Triest (NED) – Navigator
André Fonseca (BRA)
Andy Meiklejohn (NZ)
Henrique Pellicano (BRA)
João Signorini (BRA)
Horacio Carabelli (BRA)
Roberto Bermudez (ESP)
Stuart Wilson (NZ)
Marcelo Ferreira (BRA)

Brunel
Grant Wharington (AUS) – Skipper
William Oxley (AUS) – Navigator
Eduard van Lierde (NED)
Gareth Cooke (NZ)
Graeme Taylor (AUS)
Jeffrey Scott (NZ)
Matthew Humphries (GBR)
Mitchell White (AUS)
Philip Harmer (AUS)
Philip Airey (NZL)

Ericsson Racing Team
Neal McDonald (GBR) – Skipper
Mark Rudiger – Navigator
Damien Foxall (IRL)
David Rolfe (NZ)
Magnus Woxen (SWE)
Richard Mason (NZ)
Timothy Powell (GBR)
Ken Read (USA)
Richard Bouzaid (NZ)
Ian Walker (AUS)

movistar
Bouwe Bekking (NED) – Skipper
Andrew Cape (AUS) – Navigator
Chris Nicholson (AUS)
Jonathan Swain (USA)
Mike Joubert (RSA)
Noel Drennan (IRL)
Pepe Ribes (ESP)
Peter Doriean (AUS)
Stu Bannatyne (NZ)
Fernando Echavarri (ESP)

Pirates of the Caribbean
Paul Cayard (USA) – Skipper
Jules Salter (GBR) – Navigator
Craig Satterthwaite (NZ)
Jerry Kirby (USA)
Erle Williams (NZ)
Anthony Merrington (AUS)
Justin Clougher (AUS)
Justin Ferris (NZ)
Ian Budgen (GBR)
Dirk de Ridder (NED)

Current Leaderboard

1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 63.5 pts
2nd movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 44 pts
3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 41.5 pts
4th ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 41.0 pts
5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 37.0 pts
6th Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 30.5 pts
7th Brunel, Grant Wharington (AUS) 0.5 pts