ABN AMRO licks her wounds in port while Wild Oats XI stretches

• NEWS
• 27 Dec, 2006 10:29:00 PM

ABN AMRO licks her wounds in port while Wild Oats XI stretches

Mike Sanderson, the skipper of the Volvo 70 ABN AMRO ONE has described the circumstances surrounding the dramatic dismasting of his round-the-world racer this morning.

Mike Sanderson, the skipper of the Volvo 70 ABN AMRO ONE has described the circumstances surrounding the dramatic dismasting of his round-the-world racer this morning.

Arriving in Ulladulla on the NSW south coast, Sanderson said that he and his crew were bitterly disappointed after having unexpectedly gotten ahead of race favourite Wild Oats XI.

“Just out of Sydney Heads we got some puff over 22 knots and we suddenly realised we were more in the hunt than we had thought,” said Sanderson.

“We saw Wild Oats XI with a reef and a small jib so we weren’t surprised we were going a little bit quicker.

“We were doing 11 to 12 knots through the water and the reason we were further offshore than the others is we were out there taking the gamble on the current. 

“With the current we were doing 14 to 15 knots over the bottom.”

The price to be paid for looking for the current offshore was higher wind and bigger seas but Sanderson says the bigger conditions weren’t responsible for the dismasting.

“We had a fitting failure up around the second spreader,” he explained.

“We’re not sure what it was, but something broke and it all came tumbling down.

‘The rig didn’t compress but something broke up there.

“We’ve been out there in this stuff before a lot of times.  The thing with these boats, they’re fully powered up in 15 knots of wind so there is no more load on the rig at 40 knots. 

“Rig-wise we had very little sails - 2 reefs in the main and a staysail – so rig-wise we were in very comfortable mode.”

Sanderson said that in last night’s conditions of 35 knot southerly winds and rough seas, the sea state is what will do the damage. 

“We were still in race mode,” he said.

“We’ve got some fantastic techniques for slowing down (the boat) when we need to but we were still in racing mode, still hammer down."

He does not believe the boat was being driven too hard for the conditions though. 

“The fact is something broke on the mast that shouldn’t have happened,” said Sanderson.

“If we had delaminated the hull or broken a daggerboard it would be a whole different story. 

“But this rig has been around the world and it has seen much worse than what it saw last night.

“Everyone is obviously bitterly disappointed but we’re here (in Ulladulla), everyone is in good physical shape, we’ve just got to get the job done and pack it up and get it back to Sydney.

“We’ve got another mast.  If we were in full Volvo mode we’d be sailing tomorrow afternoon, no problems.”

Meanwhile, out on the race course, Wild Oats XI is steadily increasing her lead over Melbourne yacht Skandia as the two remaining maxis in the race surge across Bass Strait.

Wild Oats XI is reaching speeds of up to 13 knots in what are close to ideal conditions for these giant boats.  However, over the past hour or so in particular Skandia has dropped off the pace noticeably as skipper Grant Wharington and his crew struggle to overcome the loss of the yacht’s canard, a sort of dagger board in front of the canting keel that is crucial when going to windward.  The canard broke off with a loud crack about 3pm today - a huge disappointment for Wharington after his yacht had matched Wild Oats XI mile for mile all day.

By 8pm Skandia had fallen 20 nautical miles astern of Wild Oats XI, with the Volvo 70  Ichi Ban a further 10 miles behind her and closing.

Ichi Ban has moved into 1st m place on IRC handicap ahead of Wild Oats XI and Skandia.

In the PHS Division, Katinka leads Gillawa while in the hotly contested Sydney 38 one design division Challenge, skippered by veteran Melbourne yachtsman Lou Abrahams, competing in his 44th Rolex Sydney Hobart, is leading his former Sydney 38, Another Challenge. 

Nine yachts have withdrawn from the race, with 69 yachts still racing.