Betreff: TISCALI'S SETBACK COULD BE PINDAR'S GAIN
Absender: "Aroundalone"
Datum: 23. Apr 2003 17:44
TISCALI'S SETBACK COULD BE PINDAR'S GAIN
SPIRIT OF CANADA UPDATE
ETA'S, LATEST POSITIONS
OVERALL POINTS AND ELAPSED TIMES AFTER 4 LEGS
Media Contact: Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - UK Mobile: +44 (0)7887 643 583
Southampton, England - 23rd April 03. The final 1,500 miles of Leg 5 of Around Alone 2002-03 is shaping up to be the most exciting racing. Latest news is that Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti, currently in 2nd place on Tiscali, and vying for 3rd place overall with Emma Richards on Pindar, has spent the last 24 hours repeatedly climbing up to the top of the mast after a segment of the indexsail track on the mast came away yesterday afternoon.
On the satellite phone Bianchetti sounded exhausted but determined to get the repair done: "It's not a problem at the moment with these light winds so I've decided to take advantage of this moment of calm to repair it in view of the stronger winds expected after the 20° parallel. My competitors are going faster behind me but I'm counting on getting back up to pace as soon as possible."
The British skipper herself is on the attack and gaining on her index rival in their battle for the overall podium. Pindar is still positioned furthest to the East as Richards makes the most of the steady easterly breeze to catch up on Tiscali and remove a boat or to between them. "In the coming 24 hrs the wind will decrease and go aft until eventually we will be gybing and heading off to Newport on Port gybe for a whileÂ… I have already seen my whole sail inventory in the last 36 hours and I'm sure will see them all again a few times before the end of this race, plenty of work (and opportunities) to come."
According to distance to finish American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet and Frenchman Thierry Dubois on Solidaires lie in between Emma Richards and her target still. Schwab is hand-steering his narrow Open 60 over to the West, still making 9 - 10 knots boatspeed: "A bit more wind now and hoping that Thierry & Emma to windward of us will be slowing down in the next position report. They should be entering a light zone soon, and I'm keeping my tired fingers crossed!" On the course, these three boats are actually spread West to East as the fleet approach their biggest obstacle of the leg - a low pressure to the East of Bermuda generating headwinds bang in the middle of their route.
Class 1 leader Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux is off the Bahamas and looking ahead at this system, and also the conditions right in front of his bow: "If I can cut through the wind coming off the depression 500 miles to my north, things will be okay. Just ahead there is a huge bank of clouds, strung right out because of the tropical storms, bizarre conditions and hard to read, but I have gone past the point where I was in fear of getting caught in the calms that generate these lows."
In Class 2, leader Brad Van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America and Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal are still under 180 miles apart, as they both pursue their big American brother Schwab on Ocean Planet over to the west. Kent has put in a better overall performance in the last 24 hours with 252 miles against Van Liew's 235 mile run as the leader slows inevitably coming out of the trade winds. However it is Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi on Open 40 Spirit of yukoh who is setting the pace, clocking the best 24hr run in the entire fleet of 258 miles, and as they enter the second stage of Leg 5, only 1,100 miles separates Bobst Group - Armor Lux from last boat, Open 40 BTC Velocity.
Canadian Derek Hatfield on Spirit of Canada has been hand sewing his indexsail and reconstructing the lazy jack system as he hits calmer waters off the Argentinian coastline: "Salvador is dead up wind and there is a big high pressure system hanging about between here and there so it will be a bit slow and frustrating sailing for the next two days. I'm starting to monitor my fuel and water just in case it takes longer than expected."
Weather - The Raymarine 3 day weather forecast and map is posted up online at www.aroundalone.com every other day.
ETA for first boat: April 29th - 30th 2003. The ETA's will be updated every three days, based on the performance data calculated by RayTech 4.1 navigational software supplied by Official Race Partners Raymarine (www.raymarine.com).
POSITIONS AT 1400GMT 23rd APRIL 2003
You can track the race boats using RayTech 4.1 navigational software by going to the Positions page online and clicking on the link to the Raymarine website at the top of the index chart.
Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux 22 11.200 N, 52 43.280 W, 81.65 nm, 10.21 kt, 332 °T, 1489.96 nm
2. Tiscali 19 02.300 N, 50 28.450 W, 36.41 nm, 4.55 kt, 322 °T, 1717.11 nm
3. Ocean Planet 14 22.220 N, 53 57.700 W, 71.98 nm, 9.02 kt, 315 °T, 1860.75 nm
4. Solidaires 16 35.800 N, 48 48.600 W, 63.46 nm, 7.94 kt, 358 °T, 1891.74 nm
5. Pindar 16 54.900 N, 46 31.000 W, 70.08 nm, 8.75 kt, 358 °T, 1950.87 nm
Class 2
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp Avgheading DTF
1. Tommy Hilfiger 13 49.200 N, 53 25.700 W, 62.34 nm, 7.79 kt, 325 °T, 1904.01 nm
2. Everest Horizontal 11 40.160 N, 51 00.300 W, 70.50 nm, 8.82 kt, 323 °T, 2082.95 nm
3. Spirit of yukoh 9 40.880 N, 44 11.300 W, 84.45 nm, 10.54 kt, 317 °T, 2386.68 nm
4. BTC Velocity 6 11.600 N, 41 37.000 W, 74.00 nm, 9.26 kt, 315 °T, 2645.23 nm
* Spirit of Canada (Leg 4) at 14:00 GMT - 34 46. 800 S 44 48. 000 W, avg bt spd 7 kts
Overall Results in Points / Total Elapsed Time after 4 Legs
Class 1
1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux - 39pts / 97 days 23 hrs 7 mins 13 secs
2 Solidaires - 37pts / 98 days 9 hrs 57 mins 47 secs
3 Pindar - 27pts / 110 days 16 hrs 30 mins 23 secs
4 Tiscali - 26pts / 140 days 0 hrs 51 mins 41 secs
5 Ocean Planet - 23pts / 138 days 19 hrs 5 mins 45 secs
Class 2
1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America - 40pts / 128 days 0 hrs 0 mins 54 secs
2 Everest Horizontal - 35 pts / 148 days 0 hrs 15 mins 41 secs
3 *Spirit of Canada - 25 pts / 174 days 6hrs 47 mins 44 secs
4 Spirit of yukoh - 28 pts / 155 days 23 hrs 24 mins 44 secs
5 BTC Velocity - 23 pts / 174 days 6 hrs 47 mins 44 secs
* Spirit of Canada points & elapsed time after 3 legs only, 3rd place ranking based on his completion of Leg 4.
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Mary Ambler - Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com - Mobile: +44 (0)7887 643 583
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