Oceanracing 2002 - Around Alone

Portrait von Emma Richards

07.11.2002, 18:37
Mary Ambler Berichtet nocheinmal:

LEG 2: EMMA RICHARDS SURVIVES 4HR ORDEAL UP 80FT MAST

Southampton, England - 7th November. British skipper Emma Richards has experienced a most terrifying, and potentially life-threatening, four and a half hour ascent of her 80-foot mast in order to replace the broken indexsail halyard, which has subsequently seen Pindar concede her second place to Solidaires in the current standings for Leg 2 of the Around Alone from Torbay, England to Cape Town, South Africa.
Emma courageously began her ascent at 8:30am GMT this morning in 10 knots of wind. By the time she was at the top of the mast, the wind had built up to 25 knots and the mast was swinging back and forth, 20 feet either way. Making the repair became a seemingly impossible task in these conditions. Emma, however, showed her true mettle by completing the repair successfully and after four and a half hours, set foot back on the deck of Pindar at 12:52 pm GMT.

Photo: Andreas Hanakamp

Physically and mentally exhausted, Emma then still had to dig deep and somehow summon up enough energy to re-hoist her 165 square metre, 125kg indexsail to get her back into a competitive racing position. The position report at 2.00 pm GMT showed she has lost 40 miles to her nearest rival, French sailor Thierry Dubois on Solidaires. She was in second place, but is now in third by 13 miles.
Speaking from onboard Pindar at 2.00 pm GMT this afternoon, Emma Richards commented: “It was horrible, just horrible – the most terrifying experience of my life. I went up the mast with a fairly steady breeze of 10 knots, but by the time I’d reached the top, this has built to 25 knots, with the wind constantly shifting direction. The mast was swinging back and forth, as much as 20-feet either side. I was blown upside down in my climbing harness, back to front and thrown all over the place. I am bruised all over from being pounded against the mast – all up my arms, all along my ribs and my legs are totally battered. My head smashed against the mast a few times, so thank god I was wearing a crash helmet.
“I was so scared, it is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, let alone my sailing career. It was a total horror-show, however, I have now re-hoisted the index, which took every ounce of energy I had left and more, but it’s done now. However I’m cold, hungry and incredibly tired. I’m very tearful and I can’t stop shaking. I’m just thankful that I survived the ordeal and when I have managed to get my head around what’s just happened I might be able to concentrate on racing again. I’m absolutely battered and bruised, but at least I’m safe and sound. Please tell my Mum and Dad that I’m ok.”
To follow Emma’s progress in Around Alone visit www.pindar.com or the official race website www.aroundalone.com.
For all media enquiries on Emma Richards contact:
Henry Chappell or Victoria Fuller at Pitch PR
Tel: 020 7494 1616 / 07775 585 437 e-mail: henry@pitchpr.co.uk
For more information on Around Alone contact: Mary Ambler at Clipper Ventures Tel: 02380 237 088 e-mail: mambler@clipper-ventures.com Datum: 07. Nov 2002 17:39

LEG 2 : EMMA’S SOLO 80FT MAST CLIMB TO STAY IN RACE
PINDAR’S index HALYARD BREAKS
SOLIDAIRES OVERTAKES PINDAR INTO 2ND PLACE BY 13NM

Southampton, England – 7th November. British skipper Emma Richards on Leg 2 of Around Alone from Torbay, England to Cape Town, South Africa reported that at 22:30hrs GMT last night her index halyard snapped on Open 60 Pindar, causing the 165 square metre, 125kg indexsail to come crashing down around her in seconds. The only course of action for her to reindex in the race was to perform a solo climb up the 80ft mast to replace the broken halyard and get the indexsail up again. In the course of events, closest rival Thierry Dubois on Solidaires has sneaked a 13 mile lead over her and is now in 2nd place.
Emma recounted the incident first hand this morning: “I couldn’t believe it. Last night my little world of boat, sea and race fell around my ears again. Only a few precious hours after the dark, the index halyard snapped, dropping the whole indexsail to the deck in less than a second (only wish I could hoist it that fast!) It has snapped right at the top, so I have no choice but to don my hard hat and drag myself up the mast to replace the halyard.
“I would have done it immediately but it was pitch black last night and so I was bound to make a simple error that would force me to go up again this morning, and I doubt the bruising that is bound to occur as I bounce my way up the mast will permit me two trips up there.
“I got some sleep and with a clear head this morning I have a new halyard ready to go. I have also taken a spare block and lashing in case that was the cause of the chafe, a knife to cut away the old dead end up of halyard up there, and a lashing to lash me to the mast so I could use both hands to work instead of just holding on for dear life in an awful motion. There is a horrible sea running as the wind has been shifting round which will not make my life any easier. At least I’m not scared of heights!”
At the 0600hrs position report, Pindar was still in 2nd place behind leader Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux, but her slower boatspeed overnight had cost her dearly against closest rival Thierry Dubois on Solidaires as she had dropped to within 13 miles of the Frenchman.
After spending four hours up the mast with the boat slowed up to 2 knots, Emma confirmed at around 1300hrs GMT that the job was done and Pindar was back up to around 13 knots boatspeed. Unfortunately, it was not quick enough to stop Solidaires from passing Pindar and stealing into second place as the 1400hrs position report shows the Frenchman with a 13 mile lead.
Positions at 1400hrs UTC 7th November 2002
Class 1
Boat, Time, Lat, Lon, DistRun, AvgBsp, Avgheading, DTF (nm) DFL (nm)
1 Bobst Group Armor-Lux, 31 45.600 S, 10 21.520 W, 92.36 nm, 11.57 kt, 1454.54 nm
2 Solidaires, 27 26.000 S, 14 48.440 W, 97.82 nm, 12.23 kt, 1770.20 nm
3 Pindar, 27 08.840 S, 14 52.760 W, 71.75 nm, 8.97 kt, 1783.21 nm
4 Hexagon, 25 40.840 S, 21 00.440 W, 78.12 nm, 9.78 kt, 2108.43 nm
5 Ocean Planet, 3 44.760 N, 23 48.480 W, 52.67 nm, 6.59 kt, 4324.72 nm
6 Tiscali, 43 27.320 N, 8 21.000 W, 0.00 nm, 0.00 kt, 6799.83 nm

Class 2
Boat, Time, Lat, Lon, DistRun, AvgBsp, Avgheading, DTF (nm) DFL (nm)
1 Tommy Hilfiger, 0 30.720 N, 27 20.320 W, 67.08 nm, 8.40 kt, 4037.72 nm
2 Spirit of Canada, 8 01.640 N, 24 50.640 W, 60.11 nm, 7.52 kt, 4504.84 nm
3 Everest Horizontal, 8 52.680 N, 24 01.280 W, 64.42 nm, 8.07 kt, 4570.88 nm
4 Spirit of yukoh, 8 40.310 N, 22 12.190 W, 20.70 nm, 2.58 kt, 4612.66 nm
5 Bayer Ascensia, 9 23.240 N, 22 56.160 W, 48.06 nm, 6.02 kt, 4626.86 nm
5 BTC Velocity, 9 26.080 N, 22 55.480 W, 46.71 nm, 5.84 kt, 4629.68 nm

DTF – Distance to finish DFL – Distance from leader

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