Southern ice gives way to Rio warmth

SAILING: Skippers in the Volvo Ocean race were relieved to arrive in Rio de Janeiro yesterday after sailing through the treacherous Southern Ocean.

The fourth leg of the global race required the eight contestants to cover 6,700 nautical miles from Auckland to Rio in what was thus far the toughest and most dangerous stage.

One yacht, the Swedish-owned SEB, was forced to retire after capsizing and snapping its mast 1,200 miles southwest of Cape Horn.

"We were doing around 28 knots when a very strong gust wiped us out," SEB skipper Gunna Krantz said. "If the mast hadn't broken the boat would have filled up and we wouldn't have righted.

"We were only under the water a few seconds but the temperature was only 1.3 degrees Celsius and the crew were gasping for breath.

"Luckily everyone was still on board when we came up, although a couple weren't clipped on."

The 60-foot SEB is being brought by ship from Ponta Arenas on the southern tip of Chile to Rio for repair before next month's stage to Miami.

Kevin Shoebridge, New Zealand skipper of third-placed Bermudan entry Tyco, said there had been a lot of ice and wind.

"It was a relief to get out in one piece with the boat in good shape," he told a news conference.

Neal MacDonald, British skipper of fourth-placed Swedish yacht Assa Abloy, said he had never seen so much ice in the Southern Ocean. "We were flying through at 30 knots trying to dodge them," he said.

However, once past Cape Horn the wind dropped dramatically and the race changed completely.

John Kostecki, skipper of the winning German yacht illbruck Challenge, said it was very stressful holding off the pursuing vessels during the past 48 hours.

Kostecki saw his lead of more than 100 miles whittled down to only 12 miles at one stage.

"The fleet was coming from behind with more wind. But we hung in there and we were able to hold them off," the 37-year-old US skipper said.

Under cover of darkness, illbruck Challenge drifted across the finishing line in the port of Rio at 05.58 GMT yesterday, some seven hours ahead of second-placed Norwegian yacht djuice.

In a daring tactical move, djuice chose a route 30 miles closer inshore, finding more favourable winds and currents which enabled it to jump from fifth to second.

"We could have stayed with the pack but chose to take a risk. You've got to be crazy to do such things," said djuice's French navigator, Jean Yves Bernot, adding that two other Frenchmen in the 12-man crew backed his controversial move.

The Volvo Ocean Race is a nine-leg, 32,700-mile race around the world which started in Southampton last September and is due to end in Germany in June.