GOR - Global Ocean Race Class40s - Leg 5

Charleston - Mallorca
http://globaloceanrace.com - Übersicht

Tagesberichte siehe Menu unten
10 June 2012
The South African team on Phesheya-Racing ride the storm into Les Sables d’Olonne

The South African duo of Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt crossed the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 5 finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne at 23:40:21 GMT on Saturday 9 June (01:40:21 Sunday 10 June local), taking third place in the circumnavigation’s final leg and securing third place overall in the GOR after 30,000 miles and 168 days of racing around the planet spread over almost nine months since the start in Mallorca last September.

Begrüssung von Phesheya-Racing als Dritte
Foto: Oliver Dewar - Global Ocean Race

In flat water and strong following wind after the passage of a front, the South African duo sped towards the finish line at good pace hitting speeds of 15 knots as Phesheya-Racing completed Leg 5 from Charleston, USA, to Les Sables d’Olonne, France. With 100% cloud cover, the grey-black, moonless and starless canopy over the finish line was broken only by a ragged band of light from the loom of the French town’s street lights as Hutton-Squire and Leggatt made landfall at the end of an epic circumnavigation.

With one reef in the index and the staysail, the final miles of the round-the-world race through the Bay of Biscay were deeply memorable for the South African duo: “It was very damp and very fast,” said Leggatt shortly after they tied-up to the Vendée Globe pontoon in Port Olona. “In many ways, it was the best sailing we’ve had in the entire race,” he adds. Indeed, the duo’s four-year-old Akilaria Class40 lit-up in the strong, downwind conditions. “It was pretty flat and the boat just picked-up on the tiniest waves and just took off doing 14 or 15 knots down the smallest waves,” explains Hutton-Squire.