20 March, 2007
VELUX 5 OCEANS - Leg 2, Day 66 Report
DALTON DOESN'T GIVE UP
* Graham Dalton (NZL) looking for his keel bulb
* Unai Basurko (ESP) wins an award
* Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) not hopeful of beating Basurko
Graham Dalton is convinced that the lead keel bulb, which has separated from his boat can be found in Fortaleza Harbour and has commissioned some local divers to help locate it. It took Dalton a few minutes of sailing on the open ocean to notice the lack of the keel bulb, but now he believes that the bulb had already come detached before he had cast off lines from his harbour mooring. He believes there is some hope of finding it.
However, even that would merely be the start of a long and tortuous process to get back in the race. Over the past few days Dalton has been through an the arduous misfortune of his rudder cassette shattering on a submerged object, a subsequent pitstop in the Brazilian port, a severe bout of illness and the theft of all his vital communications equipment and now the loss of his keel bulb.
But while even a glimmer of a hope reindexs, the tenacious Kiwi appears to be holding true to his mantra of "go hard or go home." If by some miracle he does manage to find the sunken bulb, he then needs to raise it to the surface, have it reattached to the boat and be absolutely confident that AGD - A SOUTHERN MAN is seaworthy again before he attempts the final 3,000 miles to the Leg 2 finish in Norfolk, Virginia.
One thing in his favour, however, is that there is a shipbuilder in Fortaleza, which builds superyachts. So if he can retrieve his bulb, the expertise should be available for reattaching it safely.
On board PAKEA, Unai Basurko, the Basque sailor has had his hands full this past day trying to keep the boat moving through wildly variable and unpredictable conditions. But he was also delighted to hear that he had been honoured with an award for his sailing achievements by the Monte Real Yacht Club of Bayonne.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston also acknowledged Basurko's emerging prowess as an ocean racer and believes his chances of beating the Basque skipper to the podium in Bilbao are running out. He has five and a bit days in hand on Basurko's time from Leg 1 to Fremantle, but on current progress the Spaniard is likely to beat SAGA INSURANCE into Norfolk by more than a week.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE
"We've made 100 miles back on Unai in the last day, which is worth half a day's sailing, but we're still going to be two or three days behind him in overall time."
Unai Basurko, PAKEA:
"If there is anyone with the strength and determination to solve his problems and complete the stage, it is Graham Dalton. It is a great honour to receive this award for Offshore Sailor of the Year 2006 and my thanks goes to the yacht club's president Rafael Olmedo."
Boat Positions as at 15:20 UTC 20 March 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
FINISHED: 48 days, 22 hours and 59 minutes
2
Spirit of Yukoh
Kojiro Shiraishi
FINISHED: 60 days, 6 hours and 47 minutes
3
PAKEA
Unai Basurko
26° 53.01 N
066° 18.96 W
291
12.5
787
56.2
242.1
10.09
8.03
4
SAGA Insurance
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
07° 08.52 N
049° 14.52 W
324
8.1
2320
47.6
248.2
10.34
10.26
5
A Southern Man-AGD
Graham Dalton
03° 43.12 S
038° 31.56 W
235
0.2
3226
0
0
0
0
- END -
20.03.2007
DALTON DROPS A BOMBSHELL
His keel bulb has dropped off
Disaster has struck again for Graham Dalton during his ill fated stay in
Fortaleza, Brazil. Since arriving at 0930 UTC on the 14th March to fix
the cassette, which holds his port rudder after hitting a UFO in the
middle of the night, the kiwi skipper has been struck by blow after blow
of misfortune, not to mention a debilitating sickness and an onboard
robbery.
Yesterday March 19th, was no exception as Graham Dalton rang Race
Director, David Adams to inform him that during a boat test prior to
re-joining the race he realised that the keel bulb was missing.
"I think my bulb has gone. It was blowing 8 knots and the boat fell over
and I tried to cant the keel and I couldn't see it. So I dived down, the
visibility was exceedingly poor but I could see that the bulb has gone."
Dalton has returned to the marina in Fortaleza, Brazil to re-assess the
situation. He is currently looking at his options.
- END -
For more information on VELUX 5 OCEANS please visit
www.velux5oceans.com, or contact:
Tim Kelly / Justine Ozoux
RACE PRESS OFFICE: + 44 20 7494 1616
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