A Name Change, but It’s Still 32,700 Miles

The overcast and drizzle that have prevailed along the south coast of England this week are not only typical but appropriate for the Volvo Ocean Race boats that will sail into a world in shadow Sunday.

The eight, multicolored 64-foot sloops are competing under seven national flags, although in truth they represent corporations more than countries and are manned--and womanned--by mixed crews of 12 from 16 countries.

There is no American entry but 10 Americans will be aboard six of the boats. Two are skippers: John Kostecki, 37, of Fairfax, Calif., for Germany’s illbruckteam, and Lisa McDonald, 31, a U.K. resident from Newport, R.I., for Nautor’s all-woman effort.

Mark Rudiger of San Francisco is navigator and co-skipper with Roy Heiner on Sweden’s Assa Abloy.

In the eighth running of what used to be the Whitbread Round the World Race, the world’s premier ocean racing event, they are scheduled to sail 32,700 miles, touching 11 ports, among them Miami and Baltimore in the spring.

Baltimore could be a problem, depending on what follows in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Another concern, if the situation escalates, would be governments shutting off access to the communication and information satellites the sailors use for navigation.

Rudiger, 47, is reprising his victorious role aboard Paul Cayard’s EF Language campaign in 1997-98.

He said, “We have a sextant on board, so we may have to go back to the old tried and true method.”

Grant Dalton, 44, a New Zealander who is taking his seventh turn around the globe as skipper of the Nautor men’s boat, said: “The global position satellites [GPS] are now the standard for aviation, so they won’t knock them out. The only ones they would probably take out are some of the U.S. weather satellites.” Rudiger said, “The question more in my mind is, if it gets to that point, is continuing the race the right thing to do?”

Helge Alten, the race’s chief executive, said, “We have discussed that.”

But postponing the race now was not an option. It’s scheduled to meet ideal seasonal weather patterns along the way.

“We have to go ahead, not only for our own sake, because of all the planning we’ve done, but for all the syndicates,” Alten said.

Translation: Including purchase of the race rights from Whitbread for $7.5 million, Alten, former Volvo CEO for North America, estimated it has cost the Swedish car company $40 million to get this far and supporters of the teams another $160-210 million.

“Of course, the question will be coming up, ‘What happens if we can’t go the United States?”’ Alten said. “We sort of have to go along and then discuss it with the syndicates [to determine] what we [would] do .... We will discuss it and debate it with the syndicates when needed.”

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Before the boats leave the tiny Ocean Village harbor Sunday, there will be a minute of silence for the terrorist victims, hundreds of whom were British.

First stop, in early November, will be Cape Town, South Africa, after 7,350 nautical miles, the longest of nine legs.

For the first time, reflecting Volvo’s global scope and home base, the sailors will venture into Scandinavia for a stop at Gothenburg, Sweden, before finishing at Kiel, Germany, on the Baltic Sea, after about 81/2 months.

Cayard is not competing, although he is an advisor to Nautor. The favorite, according to British betting firms, is Kostecki’s green and white illbruck, which has put in more time preparing than half of the entries combined.

“I think it’s great [to be favored],” said Kostecki, who was Cayard’s tactician in the last America’s Cup. “But we don’t look at ourselves as favorites. There are a lot of great teams and great boats.”

He’s not just being demure. The Volvo Ocean Race is now the Formula One series of sailboat racing, totally commercial and professional. Each of the nine legs, no matter how short or long, easy or difficult, will award eight points to the winner, down to one point for last place, unlike the last race, when the longer legs were worth more points than the sprints.”That’s fine,” Kostecki said. “Simple. What we all wanted. It’s an easy race for the public to understand: a race around the world. It’s adventurous. It’s dangerous.”

Volvo also hopes it will keep more boats in contention longer, unlike ‘97-98 when EF Language built an insurmountable lead before reaching the U.S. and recrossing the Atlantic to Europe.

Kostecki has raced on boats owned by Willi Illbruck and his son Michael for seven years and is the only American on the boat.

Typical of the makeup of the crews, bowman Tony Kolb is the only German among seven nationalities aboard the German boat--but there are six New Zealanders, along with hands from Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Overall, nationality has become a blur. Assa Abloy’s skipper is Heiner, a Dutchman; the navigator-co-skipper is Rudiger, an American; the designer was Bruce Farr, a New Zealander; the builder was Green Marine of the U.K., and it flies the Swedish flag.

Whatever uncertainty lies beyond the horizon, a lot of countries are in this together.

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The Teams

Entrants in the Volvo Ocean Race:

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Boat Name Flag Skipper Assa Abloy Sweden Roy Heiner djuice dragons Norway Knut Frostad illbruck Germany John Kostecki Nautor Amer Sports One Italy-Finland Grant Dalton Nautor Amer Sports Too Italy-Finland Lisa McDonald Team News Corp Australia Jez Fanstone Team SEB Sweden Gunnar Krantz Team TYCO Bermuda Kevin Shoebridge

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The Race

Leg by leg:

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Leg Start Course Nautical Miles Sept. 23 Southampton-Cape Town 7,350 Nov. 11 Cape Town-Sydney 6,550 Dec. 26 Sydney-Auckland* 2,050 Jan. 27 Auckland-Rio de Janeiro 6,700 March 9 Rio de Janeiro-Miami 4,450 April 14 Miami-Baltimore 875 April 28 Annapolis-La Rochelle 3,400 May 25 La Rochelle-Gothenburg 1,075 June 6 Gothenburg-Kiel 250

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Notes: 32,700 nautical miles. ... * Includes Sydney-Hobart race and mandatory three-hour minimum “pit stop” at Hobart, Tasmania. ... On the Web: www.VolvoOceanRace.org.