Oceanracing 2002 - Around Alone

Absender: "Aroundalone"
Empfänger:
Datum: 17. Nov 2002 08:17
ON A SOUTHBOUND TRAIN
"It's hard to imagine six straight days of an enormous one-legged beat, but I'm on one," is how Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal started his email today. Kent, along with the rest of his Class 2 competitors are sailing the longest beat of their lives as they transit the length of the South Atlantic. For almost a week all of the Class 2 yachts have been hard on the wind with the breeze blowing over their port bows. The seaway is short and steep, and for those further to the north, violent squalls are still a part of their day. Even Brad van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America sailing far to the south is also still hard on the wind. At noon Saturday Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America was on the latitude of Cape Town, but van Liew had still not found a shift in the wind that would allow him to turn left and head directly for the tip of Africa.

Tiscali mit Simone Bianchetti
Photo: James Robinson Taylor

"I have about another day, two at the most on this tack," said Brad in a satellite call. "I am heading for a depression in the Southern Ocean that will bring strong westerlies. Only at that point will I be able to head directly for Cape Town at good speed." Van LiewÂ’s track is not untypical of a traditional passage around the South Atlantic High. ItÂ’s just interesting to see how different it is from the course sailed by the leading Class 1 boats. By this point in their trip down the South Atlantic they had long since cut the corner and were heading directly for Cape Town. It is all dictated by the position of the High and for now it is located where it normally is; slap bang in the middle of the South Atlantic. There is no quarter being given to the Class 2 boats Â– they are going to have to fight for every mile of their journey from England and are not being given a break by the wind gods.
The crashing and banging is starting to get to Kent on Everest who canÂ’t escape the conditions, even in his dreams. "I was in my bunk at daybreak, getting what turned out to be an hour of sleep," he wrote. "I rarely remember dreams, but this morning I was in a Buick LeSabre with someone else driving and I was yelling at them to stop hitting all these enormous potholes - the whole car was shaking! Then of course I woke up to the boat bounding off of waves, trying to shake itself to pieces. I could not help but chuckle."
For the last four days Everest Horizontal and Spirit of Canada have been locked in a neck-and-neck battle with only a handful of miles separating them. They have opened up a gap on the rest of their class with both skippers pushing hard for second place. This morning Everest had open up a lead of 22 miles and was sailing almost due south of Hatfield on Spirit of Canada. Clearly KentÂ’s longer waterline length is helping him, but Derek is not handing him second place on a platter.
Meanwhile way to the north Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali has just left the Canary Islands behind and is heading in a southwesterly direction. His trip from Spain has not been without incident. In a satellite phone call this morning Simone described the last few days. "I had hoped to leave the Canary Islands on my left, but the problem with the jib forced me to choose a route to the East of the isles. I am finally leaving the low pressure zone that has dogged me these past few days, and should be able to catch the trade winds very soon. Up to this point, all I could do was wind the sail around the stay in a makeshift repair. When conditions are more stable I will be able to do a better job." Simone is expected to be in Cape Town in 25 days, just in time for the start of Leg 3.
Brian Hancock great.circle@verizon.net