01.11.2006
The race to reach Bernard Stamm
VELUX 5 OCEANS competitors hot on leader's trail
Each of the six competitors placed between second and seventh in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, the world's toughest solo round-the-world race, has their sights firmly set on Bernard Stamm the current race leader. Stamm is now 225 nautical miles ahead of Kojiro Shiraishi in second place, his closest contender, with Brits Mike Golding and Alex Thomson close behind. Spanish skipper Unai Basurko last night left Vigo, Spain where he was forced to make a second pit stop to fix his autopilot.
Overnight, Bernard Stamm aboard Cheminées Poujoulat continued to see his impressive lead being slowly eaten into, as he indextains a significantly slower average boatspeed (since the last poll) in comparison to the fleet behind him. Sailing at almost double Stamm's average speed of 5.91 knots is sixth placed Graham Dalton, aboard A Southern Man-AGD. Stamm, who edges closer to the uncertain conditions of the Equator will be carefully planning his tactics for rounding the South Atlantic high (an area of little or no wind) en route to Fremantle, Western Australia.
Mike Golding explained the tactics this morning: "The general position of the South Atlantic high is what we are all studying carefully at the moment. The high oscillates to the east and to the west. When it is to the east, you can cut the corner round it and sail a shorter route. When it is to the west, you have to bite the bullet and sail all the way round the outside. At the moment I am critically concerned with watching Bernard, as I am sure Alex [Thomson] is too. There will be a good opportunity for me to close in on Bernard if he passes to the west of the high and it then shifts and I am able to pass to the east."
Mike also told of his rude wake-up call last night: "I woke up to find all of the alarms going, the boat on its side and the mast in the water. No damage, everything is fine, it was just a bit disconcerting. Caught it on camera!"
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston describes his position: "Watching the distances between myself and the leaders increase yesterday afternoon was as depressing as watching the distance between me and those following decrease. We've [the group following] held the others overnight - in fact made some small gains. To put things into perspective though, I need to sail a good knot faster than Bernard from here to Fremantle and that isn't going to happen. I'll probably close with him and the others in front as they approach the Doldrums, but they will then get through to the SE Trades first and soon regain that margin. Dalton is hanging in well and his weather cannot be much different to mine."
The eventful beginning to the race has taken its toll on Sir Robin: "Have been sleeping as much as the body wants. I was pretty run down by the start day in Bilbao. The storm and the big hit on morale due to having to put in for repairs meant I was not at usual velocity in La Coruņa, so re-charging the batteries is important. I could easily have stayed an extra day in La Coruņa dealing with the to-do list, but am working through it here. Thanks to Simon Clay and the two English yachtsmen Mike and Alex who helped in La Coruņa, a lot did get done. I have broken a batten, midway in the second reef which I'll need to fix when conditions permit."
Alex Thomson aboard HUGO BOSS reported: "It was difficult to eat and sleep properly yesterday so today my priority will be tidying up the boat and getting myself back to 100% - starting with a couple of bacon sandwiches! The weather ahead looks light for a time and after that we will see some much awaited trade winds, downwind champagne sailing!"
- END -
Posn
Yacht
Skipper
Date
Latitude
Longitude
Course (°)
Speed (knots)
DTL (nautical miles)
DTF (nautical miles)
Average speed - last pos (knots)
Average speed - 24h (knots)
Average course - last pos (°)
Average course - 24h (°)
VMG - 24h (knots)
1
Cheminees Poujoulat
Bernard Stamm
01/11/2006 10:20
17° 56.00 N
025° 40.88 W
190
9.3
9354
5.91
6.4
260
270
6.4
2
Spirit of Yukoh
Kojiro Shiraishi
01/11/2006 10:20
21° 35.76 N
024° 26.28 W
196
6
225
9579
7.04
8.02
241
264
8.02
3
Ecover
Mike Golding
01/11/2006 10:20
25° 18.08 N
021° 47.44 W
197°
8.7
467
10046
9.3
8.3
269
271
8.12
4
Hugo Boss
Alex Thomson
01/11/2006 10:20
27° 05.24 N
020° 42.32 W
180
10.1
584
10630
9.19
7.54
268
231
7.01
5
SAGA Insurance
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
01/11/2006 10:20
36° 10.44 N
014° 49.92 W
221
9.3
1192
11822
9.86
8.32
236
243
8.32
6
A Southern Man-AGD
Graham Dalton
01/11/2006 10:20
37° 53.36 N
014° 54.28 W
221
14.1
1288
13110
10.82
8.83
220
233
8.68
7
PAKEA
Unai Basurko
01/11/2006 10:20
42° 07.52 N
010° 18.64 W
266
9.1
1602
14712
8.38
2.92
184
184
6.54
Tim Kelly / Justine Ozoux
T: + 44 20 7494 1616
M: + 44 7773 325 533 / + 44 7824 310 035
E: tim.kelly@pitchpr.com / justine@pitchpr.com
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