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5. Vendee Globe 2004/2005
www.vendeeglobe.org - zur Übersicht
Positionen 04.12.2004
04.12.2004
www.conradhumphreys.com
HELLOMOTO Race Update No. 20, 041204
HELLOMOTO HITS UFO
Starboard rudder damaged
Elapsed Time: 27 days, 7 hours, 0 mins
Fleet Leader: Bonduelle (J Le Cam FRA)
HELLOMOTO: 11th out of 20, 430m west of Cape Town
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Das Ruderblatt hat sich gelöst
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• At approximately 1510 GMT, Conrad rung his shore team to inform them that HELLOMOTO had hit an unidentified floating object (UFO) whilst going along at 15 knots boat speed on port tack heading 130 (SE) in 35 knots of wind from the north.
• Email & photo sent at 1900 GMT below/attached. Please credit Conrad Humphreys/Hellomoto – www.conradhumphreys.com
• Media: Conrad will be on the Windreport Media Conference call tomorrow from 0900GMT. Dial in details below.
• Broadcasters: please contact APP Broadcast for video footage from this incident sent off HELLOMOTO via satellite.
Conrad Humphreys interview from onboard HELLOMOTO:
“HELLOMOTO was sailing at 15 knots in a lumpy sea and 35 knots of northerly wind when it happened. I was at the Nav Station and the boat suddenly jerked to a stop as something hit the keel and then the rudder. I immediately ran on deck in order to prevent the boat from crash gybing, which I managed to do. I then proceeded to drop the indexsail fully and check the keel first. It was then I found that the bottom ½ metre of the starboard rudder had been smashed, part of which is the protective crash or false tip, but I’m unsure how much of the rudder itself has been damaged. I can see the skin trailing behind in the water but some of the rudder is still there as it is still steering the boat. It could have been anything in the water that hit, I didn’t see. There’s no leak of water in the back of the boat so that’s good news. The keel is canted far over and I haven’t tried to move it yet.
“Right now I’m sailing on port tack heading 050 towards the direction of Cape Town with no indexsail and just the trinquette at 8 knots boat speed. I have a full spare rudder on board but will wait until I can see how much of this one has been damaged to decide what I need to do. In any case I have to get into flat waters to go over the side and check the keel and rudder now as well as climb the rig, and right now the sea state is still awesome although the front has gone through and we’re past the worst of the weather. It would take me 2 or more days to get to Cape Town by my reckoning so I can’t do very much right now except sleep, I might watch a DVD and eat some of Mum’s flapjack…”
Email & photo (attached) from Conrad sent at 1900 GMT:
“It’s difficult to see from the photo attached, but we have a metre or more skin of carbon and then a foam rudder tip attached trailing behind the boat. I expect the rest is still attached to the stock. Whatever it was I hit, first hit the keel and then the rudder, the keel mechanism works okay. The wind speed has reduced to 30kts, sea state still bad. The forecast should see the wind switching from the NW to the SW and decrease rapidly. I will head for Cape Town and initially find somewhere calm to dive under the boat and check the keel. We will need to make a plan for the rudder. Feeling a little better after a sleep. That’s all I can say at the moment, barometer has risen in the last few hours…”
Full audio interview, courtesy of audio conference sponsors Geolink/Iridium, will be recorded tomorrow morning and made available online at www.windreport.com/vguk and at www.o6t.com – click on Media Centre / Multimedia / Audio archive
Video footage from the incident will be sent back tomorrow and made available for broadcasters, please contact APP Broadcast on tel: +44 (0)208 964 4992 or odewar@appbroadcast.com
HELLOMOTO Ranking* polled at 1830 GMT
Ranking / Boat / Latitude / Longitude / heading / Speed** / DTF*** / Miles from leader
11. HELLOMOTO / 34 48.92' S / 10 35.00' E / 067 / 10.2 / 17667.6/ 1566.1
*Rankings – A series of waypoints marking a logical route have been used to calculate the rankings. The boat is ranked according to the waypoint it is nearest to.
**Speed - this is an instantaneous reading
***DTF (Distance to finish) - This is worked out in comparison to the logical route
Full rankings – launch Race Console off the homepage and click on link to fleet positions
ENDS
Media enquiries: Mary Ambler
Communications Manager – Motorola Ocean Racing Team – Open 60 HELLOMOTO
Email: mary@o6t.com - Tel: +44 (0) 1752 600111 - Mob: +44 (0) 7887 643583
Motorola Ocean Racing Team web site
www.conradhumphreys.com – for all sports & news media enquiries & resources
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