Velux 5 Oceans - Alone-Round the World Yacht Race www.velux5oceans.com - Übersicht 19th January, 2007 VELUX 5 OCEANS - Leg 2, Day 6 Report SKIPPERS target THE ROARING FOURTIES AND FURIOUS FIFTIES * After an unwanted experience with tangled ropes on his keel, leader Bernard Stamm (SUI) has caught the strong westerly winds below Latitude 50°S * Kojiro Shiraishi (JPN) throws off his habitual sea sickness and chases the promise of the furious fifties that as he hunts Stamm * Unai Basurko (ESP) forced to stay north by strong winds as Graham Dalton (NZL) and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) continue to march south Bernard Stamm, the defending champion, race leader and currently at the head fleet in leg two of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, continues to extend his advantage aboard CHEMINEES POUJOULAT. Now over 236 miles ahead of second placed Kojiro Shiraishi on SPIRIT OF YUKOH, the Swiss skipper has picked up the strong winds that whip around the bottom of the planet, setting the fastest speeds amongst the competitors. An impressive achievement given the unwanted incident that struck his Open 60 last night. After noticing a dip in speed despite good winds, Stamm realised his keel resembled a spaghetti-wrapped fork after it had become entangled with thick ropes. Luckily he managed to free his yacht of the inconvenience before jumping into the cold seas. Conditions are now ideal for a fast track to Campbell Island, with strong winds, stable seas and fine weather. However, as Stamm continues south, the air and water temperatures will continue to plunge as the risk of icebergs continue to grow. Kojiro Shiraishi, who always suffers from sea sickness at the start of any ocean leg, is also expected to step into the furious fifties within the next 24 hours and keep in touch with Stamm. The Japanese skipper, who refuses to take medication for the condition as he wishes to reindex focused and sharp, has finally been able to enjoy some good Japanese food. Koji has also been sailing in perfect and surprising conditions for the Southern Ocean, with sunshine and flat seas. Meanwhile, fourth placed Unai Basurko onboard PAKEA, had been forced to stay north of the fleet by strong winds from the south and south east of 35-40 knots and large waves. However, the forecast should mean that the Basque skipper can turn south before reaching Adelaide but it will disadvantage Basurko as the other skippers reap the benefits of the furious fifties. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on SAGA INSURANCE has now rounded Cape Leeuwin and although he is now over 1,000 miles behind the leader after a forced return to Fremantle, the experienced skipper has his sights firmly set on A SOUTHERN MAN AGD (Graham Dalton), 500 miles to the south. Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT: "It was dark and I was doing some navigation down below when I had a look at the instruments and realized that we were showing 7-8 knots of boat speed. I could just notice that the water was churned up behind the boat. I furled the big gennaker and tried to go backwards using the index sail. This is when I realized that I had some ropes stuck around the keel. I didn't feel anything but I just noticed that the boat slowed down and was doing weird movements. Then what you worry about is 'am I going to be able to get rid of it'? It looked like it was a massive 1 metre cubed plate of spaghetti." "I attempted 2 or 3 times to sail backwards but it didn't work so I decided I would have to jump in the water. I went down below to grab my survival suit and left the helm free. During this time, the boat started going backwards on its own so I went back on deck and took the helm. When I tried to sail forward properly again, I realized that the ropes were gone! So I started sailing again. Being in the sea is not the right place for a sailor. To jump in the water when you sail solo is never a great idea as you take big risks. But sometimes you have no choice and I thought it was the only way for me to solve the problem. I am lucky I didn't have to go in." "Conditions have been superb in the last two days. The weather is really nice. There are few maneuvers to do so I can concentrate on the forecast, the navigation and the preparation of the boat. The sea state is pretty much tidy and it is really surprising that at 50 degrees south the weather is still fine. I have a westerly wind and am sailing around 14-15 knots. I have the big spinnaker up and full index sail. You still have to be careful sailing downwind because of squalls or gust but conditions are perfect. I am not sure how long it would last for but I have never seen this before in the southern ocean. I have planned to carry on heading south for no more than 24hours. The sea temperature is now around 8 degrees so I have to check it doesn't get too cold. I think we have more chances to see icebergs around Campbell Island. But the radar is on and works (for once) so it is great. I have alarms for the sea and air temperatures so everything under control at the moment." Kojiro Shiraishi, SPIRIT OF YUKOH: "We have had our Tiger sail up for a long time now. It is the Code 6 that we now call with affection 'Tiger' because of the colourful repairs done in Fremantle. The message from Laurent, who worked so skillfully to repair the sail, is clear: 'DO NOT BREAK AGAIN!'." "For the Southern Ocean this morning's sea is remarkably calm and it's a bright sunny day. It's getting much colder in the mornings though now. From the latest gribs it looks like we can keep on this course and get to the strong westerly Southern Ocean winds. Then we will really be in the Antarctic Ocean." "In order to build up strength and feel good, I decided a good big meal was in order. Sliced pork over rice, a tin of teriyaki eel and some chicken Yakitori were on. However! The tin of eel is an old fashioned type without the pull off tab. This means I need a tin opener. Whoops - what tin opener? I searched all over the boat. The only thing I could find was my old Swiss army knife. But it has only a very basic tin opener and my tin of eel is a very awkward square shape. Finally I decided to use pliers as well and hack and tear the top off. It was delicious and worth all the effort." Unai Basurko, PAKEA: "I'm having quite strong winds, 35 knots from the south east, sometimes from the south, and it's forcing me to sail northeast, but it'll change soon. I can't go south; that's one of the beautiful things about sailing, you can't go where you want but where the wind tells you to go, and now the wind says no, so it's no... therefore I had two options, I go towards Africa or I sail a bit to the north..." "The forecasts say it will shift to west, so in a few hours I'll be able to start going south again. I'm sailing with three reefs and a jib, and the bad things are also the waves, I don't want to force the boat for hours against big waves. I'm going slow as it's not good for me to do too many miles in this direction." Boat Positions as at 10:20 UTC 19th January 2007 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 50° 17.72 S 134° 31.68 E 114 15.2 12674 65.2 329.8 13.74 12.13 2 Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 47° 19.60 S 130° 36.36 E 152 13 236 12886 51.4 260.1 10.84 10.22 3 A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton 42° 31.64 S 128° 26.04 E 92 8.3 530 13111 42.1 194 8.08 7.21 4 PAKEA Unai Basurko 37° 09.32 S 124° 54.92 E 74 12 891 13436 50.4 149.1 6.21 3.05 5 SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 36° 35.12 S 118° 18.12 E 102 6.4 1081 13700 35.7 197 8.21 8.2 - END - For more information on VELUX 5 OCEANS please visit www.velux5oceans.com , or contact: Tim Kelly / Justine Ozoux / Kate Fairclough RACE PRESS OFFICE: + 44 20 7494 1616 E: tim.kelly@pitchpr.com / justine@pitchpr.com / kate@pitchpr.com About Norfolk, Virginia (USA) Norfolk, which is home to Naval Station Norfolk, the largest military station in the world, can host hundreds of vessels at one time including cruise ships, destroyers and submarines and once made history when it berthed five nuclear aircraft carriers at the same time. 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