Velux 5 Oceans - Alone-Round the World Yacht Race www.velux5oceans.com - Übersicht Friday 1 December, 2006 VELUX 5 OCEANS - Day 41 Report ECOVER EXPECTED IN CAPE TOWN THIS EVENING Stamm battles force 10 and Knox-Johnston battles technology * Mike Golding (GBR) and Alex Thomson (GBR) expected to arrive in Cape Town on Friday evening, the end to a dramatic 41 days at sea * Kojiro Shiraishi (JPN) in a sticky situation with a torn indexsail as he passes the Kerguelen Islands and points his nose towards Fremantle * Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) looses time on the back of a malfunctioning weather routing system and pines for the long gone days of seamanship * Bernard Stamm (SUI) battles force 10 conditions 1,000 miles from Fremantle and is expected to claim victory in leg 1 early next week Mike Golding and Alex Thomson, both onboard a broken masted ECOVER, are expected to arrive into Cape Town at 20:00 this evening. The two British skippers must be looking forward to dry land after a dramatic and heart breaking journey from Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain). Although the dream of winning the 'Ultimate Solo Challenge' is over for Alex Thomson and HUGO BOSS, Mike Golding must make the decision over the future of his part in this race. Golding has already stated that he would make the decision once back on land and he has all the information at hand, so watch this space. Kojiro Shiraishi on SPIRIT OF YUKOH has been wrestling with a torn indexsail. Not only did the Japanese skipper have to balance precariously on his boom as he hurtled along at an average speed close to 15 knots, but he had to resort to some traditional stitching to plug the hole in the indexsail, as the wet conditions ruined the adhesive and sticky tape solutions. Koji is hoping his handiwork will hold out to Fremantle, but admits that his list of repairs in Australia is getting longer and longer. The 'Silent Assassin' is also looking ahead to the longest and hardest leg from Fremantle to Norfolk (USA), which will see the skipper deep in the Southern Ocean. A frustrated Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (SAGA INSURANCE) has suffered from slow speeds recently and lost time because of technology problems with his weather routing system. The sailing legend has been pining for the old days of solo sailing, when skippers relied on their intuition and seamanship, and not on malfunctioning technology. The end result was that Sir Robin was held up in light winds in the middle of a small high pressure system. The mandatory waypoint in leg 1 has prevented Knox-Johnston from diving further south to catch the stronger winds and seen him struggle, whilst the front runners crash towards Fremantle. The episode has left Sir Robin tired and frustrated. Bernard Stamm on CHEMINEES POUJOULAT continues to make good progress to the finish. The Swiss skipper is now close to 1,000 miles away from Fremantle and is expected to arrive Monday or Tuesday next week. However, the defending champion has had to battle with force 10 winds. Unai Basurko, at the back of the fleet on PAKEA, continues to make good speed despite his port rudder problems. Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT: "Everything OK on board. Since 10 hours I have 45 knots of NW wind and since one hour it increased to 50-55 knots. It will be a good thing when it calms a little down. It is in the middle of the range of the small jib. I don't have the small jib anymore since the storm at Cap Finisterre, but I have the storm jib on and it is not very fast." Kojiro Shiraishi, SPIRIT OF YUKOH: "Last night winds close to 40 knots roared past me but now it has calmed down to 30 knots. I had to urgently repair a tear in the indexsail. I fixed it by creating an equivalent sized patch of the same material as the indexsail and sticking it straight onto the sail itself. However because of the slight rain, the adhesive isn't sticking at all. I've tried using other methods such as tape but that hasn't stuck either. Ultimately I've had to stitch the patch upon the indexsail. It's the old fashioned needle and thread! It's just a precaution to make sure the tear doesn't get any larger. Perching upon a wobbling boom in 30 knot gales with a tiny needle is no mean task. But somehow I managed. I hope this will hold all the way to Fremantle. If the tear does happen to get bigger, I'll try repairing it once again on a drier day." "According to the race rules, I passed the Kerguelen Islands on a starboard tack. I hope from here on in to Fremantle I'll be able to ride these good winds but I may be snared by a high pressure system along the way. There's still a possibility for icebergs along the journey so I'll continue to be wary." "Slowly and surely the boat's repair list for Fremantle is being made. I want to fix all the problems but it will turn into a battle with the budget. This is a particularly pivotal moment in the race. Especially as the next leg is even more demanding than this one and how well the boat copes will be directly influenced by how well we prepare in Fremantle. It's the shore crew and the virtual crew's time to shine. Let's all try our best together! Much like how the race itself is always adapting to nature, so must the plans of our preparations. How we overcome these problems will be where our real strength lies." Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE: "This has to be, in a very frustrating voyage so far, perhaps the most frustrating night I have had. Problems with my weather routing system has cost me big time. I think life was better before we had all these programmes. We may not have known what weather was coming, but we could rely on the barometer and looking at the wind direction and clouds. These days we have become dependant on these clever programmes, and when they don't work, which is quite often, we waste hours trying to get them to operate, often, as yesterday, with no success at all." "A small high pressure system had created itself in my path and by the time I had information about it was too late to avoid it. I have to stay north of this waypoint of 44S 000E/W, which prevents me diving south where the winds are favourable. That waypoint must have cost me a good day so far, perhaps more, as I could have dived south a couple of days ago if it had not been there. This is where I miss the windex, which blew off soon after leaving La Coruna, as I can see exactly what the wind is really doing. I also miss a nice indexsail shape which we have not had since the battens broke." "It took ages to get across the 40th parallel and officially into the Southern Ocean, but we drifted slowly over it at 1515 GMT. I have a feeling that either those who went before over rewarded Neptune, or he has heard I no longer have any whisky with which to propitiate him and so has turned his back on me. That's not very nice after all these years! So here we are, in the Roaring Forties, and becalmed!" "Spoke with Alex Thomson and Mike Golding yesterday who sounded remarkably cheerful considering their experiences which would have ground down lesser people. They hope to make Cape Town today, so have a cold one for me chaps." Boat Positions as at 10:20 UTC December 1 Yacht Skipper Latitude Longitude Course (°) Speed (knot) DTL (nautical miles) DTF (nautical miles) Dist - last Pos (nautical miles) Dist - 24h (nautical miles) Average speed - 24h (knots) VMG - 24h (knots) 1 Cheminées Poujoulat Bernard Stamm 44° 06.12 S 099° 03.12 E 54 13 1067 64.6 327.2 13.63 13.48 2 Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 44° 26.20 S 077° 51.60 E 61 12 909 1914 66.8 350.9 14.62 13.96 3 Ecover Mike Golding 34° 48.00 S 018° 52.40 E 301 7.4 3615 4666 32.3 157.4 6.56 -6.5 4 SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 41° 08.32 S 000° 50.44 W 166 6.3 4123 5219 37.4 109.9 4.58 4.37 5 A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton 42° 49.64 S 007° 21.00 W 100 4.2 4271 5462 38.2 181 7.54 5.5 6 PAKEA Unai Basurko 31° 43.28 S 003° 19.68 W 91 12.2 4592 5717 49.5 198.7 8.28 7.04 - END - Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE