04/04/2001
Windy landfall for Team Legato in Canaries
With barely 100 miles covered since yesterday, Team Legato is really
struggling to reach the port of Las Palmas...
The Race Event Press Release
With barely 100 miles covered since yesterday, Team Legato is really struggling to
reach the port of Las Palmas where a spare part is waiting for her brought by a
technician from Carbospars.
25 to 30 knots on the nose are not ideal sailing conditions, especially with a
weakened mast following the incident to its base. At this pace, Tony Bullimore's
catamaran will not reach the island of Gran Canaria until Thursday morning. "We are
battling
against headwinds and trying to reach the Canaries as quickly as possible. But we
must be very careful with our mast", wrote Tony Bullimore this morning.
It will be not until they have detected whether there is any other damage to the
mast that we will know whether Team Legato will be able to leave Las Palmas within
the day as hoped. The avowed objective of the English boat was to leave again just
ahead of the Poles who are continuing to make fast progress towards the goal. But
it looks less and less probable.
Indeed, at 1615 miles from Marseilles, and at 17 knots average,
Warta-Polpharma is still enjoying strong wind conditions, blowing from the west at
force 3 to 4, enabling them to reel in 300 miles in 24 hours, or twice that of Team
Legato. If all goes well on board the Polish boat could reach the Straits of Gibraltar
around about April 8th and Marseilles 2 or 3 days later.
Mireille Vatine
Translation David Palmer SeaSpeak
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