After eight races on Saturday 10 and Monday 12 June 2006, Team Holmatro
(NED) climbed on the leaderboard of the Rotterdam Volvo Extreme 40
Grand Prix. The Dutch entry is in fourth position not far from the
podium. On Saturday, the VX 40’s competed off the coast of Hoek van
Holland, while four Volvo Open 70’s were finishing their eight leg.
On Monday, the 40-foot catamarans returned to the Nieuwe Maas with
a tough competition. Halfway the series in the Netherlands, Tommy Hilfiger
(USA) took over the lead from Motorola-CHR (UK). The crowd onshore
and on the water enjoyed the spectacle. They could clearly see the
crews working hard on the trampolines and they could hear the winches.
Tropical temperatures prevailed on June 12th and the South-easterly
was variable in direction and strength. Due to a small race area, the
course was short and because of the wind angle it was only reaching.
A good start turned out to be essential, as there was very little room
left for tactical moves. The one that rounds the mark first, is likely
to take a bullet. Out of five races, the fourth was by far the most
exciting one. Tommy Hilfiger with Randy Smith on the helm and Basilica
of skipper James Grant (UK) were off first, followed by the Volvo Ocean
Race of Nigel Pit (USA). At the buoy, Holmatro sneaked to the Volvo-boat
and Pit did not give enough water. He had to take his penalty and Holmatro
took over their third position. Tommy Hilfiger caught up on Basilica,
but hit the British hull while rounding the bottom mark. They had to
turn a 360 as well and Holmatro passed them. The Americans chased them
up and at the next corner it went wrong again. This time, it were the
Dutchmen that hit the Tommy Hilfiger.
After the penalty, Tommy and
Motorla-CHR were ahead of them and Team Holmatro finished fourth. Holmatro-skipper
Mitch Booth afterwards: “We all pushed hard today. Those two collisions
are part of the game. It was gusty and shifty and these boats accelerate
fast and stop abrupt. That causes crashes at the corners.” Booth stayed
calm at the final race and was leading the fleet from the start to
the finish. The Dutch VX 40 scored a series of 4-3-3-4-1, which was
a better performance than Motorola, who sailed very well on Saturday.
The British are still seven points ahead of the Dutchmen.
Finish VO 70’s
Since the inport race of the Volvo Open 70’s was portponed to Sunday,
the VX 40 class competed on the VO 70 course off the coast of Hoek
van Holland on Saturday. Meanwhile the Pirates of the Caribbean, Ericsson,
Brunel and ABN AMRO TWO finished their eight leg a few hundred meters
away. The impressive crowd of spectator boats was not always aware
of being on the finish line or at the downwind mark of the catamarans.
Guests onboard chartered clippers were suprised by the speed of the
mutlihulls and were hanging over the rail. In between the three races,
the VX 40’s went into the chaos around the VO 70’s as well.
After eleven races, Tommy Hilfiger is on top of the leaderboard, followed
by Basilica and Motorola-CHR. The differences are small with two more
days left. Greg Homann of the Holmatro: ‘It would be nice to get a
podium finish. It is still possible.”
Leaderboard VX40 Grand Prix Rotterdam after 11 races:
1st Tommy Hilfiger ((1,3,2,1,4,3,1,2,2,2,3,1) 85 pts
2nd Basilica (5,4,3,DNF,2,1,2,1,4,1,2) 78 pts
3rd Motorola-CHR (2,1,1,2,3,2,3,5,5,3,4) 75 pts
4th Holmatro (3,5,4,3,1,4,4,3,3,4,1) 68 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race (4,2,DNF,DNF,5,5,5,4,1,5,5) 56 pts