Oceanracing 2006 - VELUX 5 Oceans

Velux 5 Oceans - Alone-Round the World Yacht Race
www.velux5oceans.com - Übersicht

23.10.2006
"I HAVE SEEN 70 KNOTS AND IT IS 63 KNOTS AT THE MOMENT" - MIKE GOLDING
1 Stamm 43° 50.078 7° 54.872 10/23/06 17:30 11136
2 Shiraishi 44° 26.463 7° 24.708 10/23/06 17:30 34
3 Golding 44° 48.816 7° 21.167 10/23/06 17:30 45
4 Basurko 44° 18.793 6° 32.305 10/23/06 17:30 65
5 RKJ 44° 35.357 6° 18.626 10/23/06 17:30 80
6 Thomson 43° 47.431 6° 12.476 10/23/06 17:30 81

Boat breaking gale force headwinds and seas, comparable to those experienced in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in 1998 when six lost their lives, have been battering the VELUX 5 OCEANS fleet all day. While severe winds were forecast for this period prior to Sunday's departure, no one at that stage predicted just how violent the winds currently hammering the six Open 60s would be.

"I have seen 70 knots and it is 63 knots at the moment," reported Mike Golding this afternoon from a wind and sea swept Ecover, the most northerly boat in the fleet, where the strongest winds have been encountered. Golding was already shattered after an ascent of the mast this morning.
"The seas are pretty friggin' enormous now and the index thing is just to get through this and not break anything. There is not much I can do. I was caught out a bit and could not really get prepared for this because I was up the mast sorting out the halyard problem and even when I came down there was 40 knots so I didn't have any time. It was okay then because the seas were relatively okay and flat, but they are big now."

From on board Saga Insurance, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston at 1510GMT sent a short email entitled 'Nasty'. It read: "Wind 58 knots, storm jib up, sea white with spray, surviving not racing, but okay. Irish coffee."

After a busy night managing Hugo Boss in severe gusts closer to the coast and disentangling his keel from a fishing net, Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson has chosen to head for port after a headsail sustained damage in 50 knots of wind.

"The top of the headsail started to unfurl itself in about 50 knots of breeze," Thomson reported. "I was below deck at the time and instantly realised there was a problem. As the sail started to open it knocked the boat flat and by the time I got up on deck the top of the sail had completely shredded. I am now unable to sail upwind because every time I try to do so, the sail starts to unfurl itself and knocks the boat flat again."

Thomson is unhurt, but given the current conditions, he cannot continue sailing and has therefore decided to head for Gijon to the west of Santander where he expects to arrive later this evening. When he arrives he will be met by his shore crew who intend to carry out a repair on the sail to enable Thomson to continue in the race.

"I am obviously disappointed," says Thomson, "but I have no other option than to suspend racing in order to carry out the necessary repair and continue in the VELUX 5 OCEANS. I am just glad this happened early on in the race before I was too far offshore." Under race rules Thomson will have to spend a minimum of 48 hours in port as a penalty, but given the conditions this will no doubt come as considerable relief.

Reports from TV helicopter say that Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat, technically race leader at present, is hove to under triple reefed indexsail alone and it is likely that the reindexing boats are similarly in survival mode. The worst of the weather is forecast to pass through this evening, but while the wind may abate, the sea state is likely to continue to batter the boats through until tomorrow.

VELUX 5 OCEANS Race Director David Adams, is a past competitor in this race gave his assessment of the conditions: "It is blowing old boots. We are getting reports into the 50 and 60s, and we have forecasts saying a minimum of 45. it is not the strength of the wind that is the worry, it is the size of the seas. With the wind you can reef down. These things [Open 60s] will still go without any sails. But the seas - particularly if they are going upwind - they just pound and pound and pound and that places terrible load on the rig, and that's the boat breaking stuff."