Team Veritas Leg 2

by on 6 Nov 2000 Team VERITAS, skippered by Will Carnegie, has climbed from ninth to fourth place following an aggressive move to the east soon after the start of the second leg from Boston to Buenos Aires.

This deliberate decision to head east to catch the trade winds was part of the overall tactics for this leg decided in advance by Will and tactician Malcolm MacVean.

VERITAS's boat speed and overall position appeared deceptively slow as they were placed no higher than ninth for the first two weeks of the leg. This move to the east has paid off, however, as in the last few days VERITAS has taken advantage of the winds forseen by Malcolm to power through to fourth place, as calculated by the computers, pressuring LG Flatron, Save the Children and Olympic Group who are just ahead.

Over the last 24 hours, VERITAS has maintained an average speed of 7.1kn, far higher than any other yacht except Save the Children, and so far has not been slowed by the Doldrums to the same extent as the others. Quadstone, the early leader of leg two and winner of the first leg from Southampton to Boston, has dropped into 10th place with an average speed of 4kn.

Another advantage of this easterly course was that VERITAS was well clear of Hurricane Michael which headed north and threatened to come very close to a number of the fleet as it hugged the east coast of America.

Will is very pleased to have made such astounding inroads on the rest of the fleet, and is happy that their early tactics have paid off. He realises that they cannot afford to let up on the pressure they are putting on the leaders, and he hopes to catch sight of LG FLATRON within the next 24 hours. He commented:

"Racing from the back of the fleet makes you the hunter. Now that we are at the front of the fleet, we are the hunted, and the pressure is really on. We have to focus hard and extend the lead we have over the rest of the fleet"

Log onto www.veritas.com/btchallenge.com for further details on these highlights straight from the crew.

Top 6 positions:
1. LG FLATRON - 2729 miles to go
2. Save the Children - 2756
3. Olympic Group - 2764
4. VERITAS - 2775
5. Compaq - 2777
6. Spirit of Hong Kong - 2789