Leg 2 - Kapstadt - Wellington - Start 28.November 2011
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1 January 2012
Ross and Campbell Field take second in New Zealand with Class40 BSL
At 10:38 on New Year’s Day in New Zealand (21:38 GMT 31 December), The Kiwi father-and-son team of Ross and Campbell Field took second place in Leg 2 of the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) with their Class40 BSL, crossing the finish line in Wellington harbour after 32 days 11 hours 38 minutes and 40 seconds and 7,000 miles of racing from Cape Town South Africa - just over one and-a-half days behind Leg 2 winners, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild on Cessna Citation.
GOR Leg 2 has been a relentless battle for the New Zealand duo, balancing intense competition with preserving their Verdier-designed Class40 and both the boat and the crew bare scars from 32 days of Indian Ocean combat. However, the final stage of the 7,000-mile leg through Cook Strait was a tough finale for the duo. The Fields rounded Cape Farewell at midday GMT on Friday - in the middle of the New Zealand night - and ran straight into the south-easterly Force 7-8 howling through Cook Strait. BSL tacked briefly onto port towards Golden Bay lying behind the 15-mile long Farewell Spit jutting east into the strait from the cape, with slow and painful progress.
By midnight GMT on Friday, BSL was off the tip of d’Urville Island on the South Island shore at the gateway to the jaws of Cook Strait and following a brief call to the GOR Race Organisation during which Ross Field reported that the breeze had built even further, BSL found shelter on the North Island shore. “We saw between 50-60 knots,” confirmed Ross Field as he stepped ashore at Queens Wharf in Wellington. “But it wasn’t just the wind, but the gale on water was just foaming and it was the rollers and breaking seas that were dangerous,” he explains. “We got down to storm jib and three reefs in the index and then just down to the index,” says Ross. “You could have got your surf board out,” added Campbell. “We got down to about 15 knots and just tacked down the shore when we found shelter.”
BSL tacked south through the night between Foxton and Porina, sailing offshore off Kapiti Island, rounding Cape Terawhiti at 19:00 GMT entering Wellington Harbour at 10:00 local, bearing away for the final time in Leg 2 and crossing the finish line off Worser Bay on the harbour’s northern shore. “It’s been bloody hard work,” admitted Ross Field, reflecting on 7,000 miles through the Indian Ocean’s high-latitudes. “We did quite a lot of damage and lost a very critical sail,” he adds. The Class40’s masthead spinnaker has been destroyed and the loss caused the complete removal of the pulpit on the portside with buckled stanchions either side of the port shrouds. “There were enjoyable parts and other parts were a pain in the ****,” he confirms.
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