02.02.2007
VELUX 5 OCEANS - Leg 2, Day 20 Report
STAMM CLIMBS MAST BUT indexTAINS HIS ADVANTAGE
* Bernard Stamm (SUI) deals with a mast problem but keeps his foot on the pedal
* Kojiro Shiraishi (JPN) dives south to escape the light winds, gibing downwind
* Unai Basurko (ESP) lines himself up for the way point and plans a southern route
* Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) battles with Graham Dalton (NZL), but continues to sail at a disadvantage without weather information
Race and leg leader Bernard Stamm last night reported a problem at the top of the mast of CHEMINEES POUJOULAT. Isolated from land and the other competitors deep in the Southern Ocean, the Swiss skipper was forced to climb the mast to haul down his indexsail. Stamm was 1,500 miles from Kojiro Shiraishi and the nearest civilization, meaning the procedure was especially dangerous. The indexsail's vital car at the head of the sail had shattered, preventing the sail from running on the mast track and meaning Stamm could not lower the indexsail. Once the indexsail was down, Stamm was able to adapt another car to the head and ensure it would work properly. The tiring work took over eight hours and left the skipper exhausted yet pleased. However, all this indextenance did not slow down the speedster, who continued to indextain his advantage over the fleet and keep up an impressive speed of over 10 knots.
Kojiro Shiraishi has dived SPIRIT OF YUKOH south in order to escape the light and fickle winds of the high pressure system that has plagued the Japanese skipper for over a week and lost him crucial miles on the leader Stamm. Dropping below 55 degrees south, the temperature is dropping both in the air and in the water. The route is no easy task, as the wind is coming from directly behind SPIRIT OF YUKOH and Koji is forced to gybe his way south, increasing the risk of damage and increasing the workload onboard. Yet despite the reputation of the Southern Ocean, the conditions reindex exceptionally benign, with calm seas, sunny days and bright skies. Shiraishi's objective reindexs speed, with Stamm the target. The second placed sailor is desperate to make up the lost miles and is focused on getting east as fast as possible.
Back in the fleet, Unai Basurko is starting to pull PAKEA away from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Graham Dalton. Although the Basque skipper headed south to catch the winds, he is now lining himself up to pass through the ice gate. He then expects to drop back south and will be hoping to extend his advantage over the back markers. Dalton and Knox-Johnston reindex locked in a close battle for fourth spot, with the Kiwi skipper holding the advantage for the time being. However, the British sailing legend continues to sail blind without up to date weather information, although Sir Robin refuses to let the bad news damper his spirit and reindexs committed to catching the boats in front.
Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT:
"The car (between the track and the indexsail) that guides and holds the index sail head broke. I realized it as I was emptying the snow from the Lazy bag (under the boom) when I found a piece coming from one of the cars. I recognized it was coming from a track but didn't know which one. Then I realized the head one was broken and that the indexsail was stuck at the mast head. I had to pull it down which is much more complicated than to hoist especially when you try not to make the damage worth. The whole operation took a bit more than 8 hours. But I have managed to fix it and I am now back on track!"
"I had to climb up to the mast but couldn't go up to the masthead. The sea was far too big. I was roughly half way of the mast. I had to replace the track. I took one from the bottom, really close from deck and put it at the top of the mast. I have repaired the bottom part with some ropes. I think the repair should be strong and work. After the repair, I hoisted the indexsail and then took one reef to check if it was working properly and luckily it was! So I can now use the indexsail like before."
"The sea is big and messy. I have had really unstable conditions in the last three days. The wind changes a lot and there are a lot of big squalls. It is really weird. There is still a big swell coming from the west. It was definitely not a good idea to climb the mast. Before the finish line, everything could happen. We are not even half way through the course so we have to be careful as breakages can always happen."
Kojiro Shiraishi, SPIRIT OF YUKOH:
"The wind has been around 10kts for a while and is keeping fairly steady now. I am trying to head around 130 degrees south east, but the wind is from directly behind which means we can't sail that angle. So to make a progress at the moment, we are having to tack and gybe a lot. It is the ,gybing of course, which is the most concerning. It is the time when we can break something and we need to be very careful. It adds significantly to a days work. For the next few days we will have a lot of gybing as the wind shifts round. So still we are not being allowed to sail in the southern ocean as we had hoped."
"Outside now it's almost like a scene from the equator. The water is calm and a bright sky. But the sea temperature has started to drop. Also in the sea water now we are finding a lot of krill. They look like very small shrimp and are the staple food of whales. It's been a while since we had some good news, but the big swell of recent days has almost gone and so we are sailing much smoother. The sails are keeping their curve, helping us keep a more constant speed."
Unai Basurko, PAKEA:
"I'm very happy, very nice feeling with the boat, better each day and I'm doing a good average speed towards home. Now I'm heading more north because I have to go through the gate. If I didn't have to pass through the gate, I'd keep going south, as the further south you go, the less distance and normally more wind. What is for sure is that I'll go south as soon as I pass the gate. Today it's been a very nice day, the situation has improved a bit, it seems more like the Atlantic instead of the Southern Ocean, good sea and breeze no more than 30 knots. Very pleasant. I have two sleeping bags and one woolen blanket. I'm eating very well, lentils, beans... all canned but I'm afraid I'll run out of it by the time I get to Cape Horn."
"The important thing is that I don't get passed by the others, keep doing miles with them each day, and I think when you are more than one day ahead, then the distance keeps increasing as you are sailing in different wind conditions, so you close one door when you pass and the others stay behind that door. As soon as I get to the waypoint I'll decide if I go south alone or not, watching the forecast. I'm not going to do very risky things for taking 100 miles off Kojiro, and let the others pass me."
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE:
"SAGA INSURANCE crossed the International Date Line at 12:43 yesterday GMT, back in the western hemisphere. So I have an extra February 1st and go from being 12 hours ahead of the UK to 12 hours behind. My strategy now without detailed weather info is to try and keep between 46 and 52 south, with the highs to the north and the lows to the south. Both the other two have gone south so as they know what is happening with the weather, that appears to be the place to be. I gybed on what was, I thought, a wind shift, but it turned out to be temporary so I zig-zagged down wind for a bit. I was also concerned that the barometer was rising and maybe I was heading towards a ridge of high pressure."
"The deep low that was heading our way has filled very slightly and headed SE, so we may not get as bad a blow as was predicted. Being south also happens to give a slightly shorter route as it is nearer to the great circle. I am lagging a bit against them at the moment but hoping for similar conditions so I can close up again. Lovely sailing day yesterday afternoon, boat going nicely, sunny, had my happy hour drink in the cockpit - very relaxing."
"One thing that does not survive sailing is finger nails. I tore off the end of my thumbnail, not back to the quick fortunately, trying to undo a knot. It is a nuisance as nails can help grip when dealing with rope. So Ladies, if your bloke asks you to go sailing, trim your nails beforehand or accept they might get ripped. Alternatively, if you like long finger nails, change your bloke!"
Boat Positions as at 10:20 UTC 2 February 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
53° 45.08 S
107° 07.44 W
118
14.1
8289
76.5
273.7
11.41
12.52
2
Spirit of Yukoh
Kojiro Shiraishi
55° 19.44 S
147° 10.76 W
105
9
1463
9752
18.3
176.1
7.34
7.24
3
PAKEA
Unai Basurko
51° 09.52 S
171° 22.24 W
81
10.4
2398
10688
47.9
220.3
9.18
8.42
4
A Southern Man-AGD
Graham Dalton
50° 35.64 S
175° 32.44 W
81
9.1
2560
10849
46.3
200.8
8.37
8.36
5
SAGA Insurance
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
47° 53.83 S
175° 24.99 W
63
7.7
2609
10899
40.9
210.5
8.77
7.25
- 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
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