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Around Alone

Stamm’s lead folds in half

lundi 28 octobre 2002 – Information Velux 5 Oceans

The 6 strong Class 2 fleet and one Class 1 yacht in Around Alone have crossed the ’official demarcation’ between Europe and Africa, 150 or so miles from the Canary Islands. The last 24hrs has seen a strong battle of tactics as the fleet encounters a transitional weather system with varying winds.


Over last night Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal has been jockeying for second place with Derek Hatfield on Open 40 Spirit of Canada as Brad Van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America consolidates his lead by covering his two main opponents further offshore. Tim nearly ran into land as an uncooperative breeze trapped him into a direct Southerly heading towards Casablanca until a hasty gybe turned his bows offshore again, losing ground on Spirit of Canada in the process. "Sunrise Sunday brought a lot of wind, so much that I had to hand-steer for four hours if I wanted to leave all the sail up - which of course I did. So I decided to sail deeper instead of gybe, and the extra wind made that easier. Unfortunately, my luck didn’t hold. I stayed east for too long and let Derek on Spirit of Canada through again early this morning - we all make mistakes." Brad has run into light airs since and his Open 50 is only making around 3 knots boatspeed, but he is most likely looking at the longer term to win through to the new breeze first.

Alan Paris on BTC Velocity has taken time in these more gentle conditions to compose a thought provoking email as to why he left one routine on land, as a Hotel Manager in Bermuda, only to find that he craves it now at sea as a solo sailor. "One of the reasons that a person might get involved in long distance offshore sailing, solo or otherwise, is to avoid, or dare I say escape from the normal rhythm and routines of land that can become repetitive and wear you down in their normalcy. Catch the same train, hit the same traffic every evening on the way home, have an occupation that is predictable in its daily tasks. Excitement is found in the unpredictability of sailing the big blue. BUT...guess what ?? To those of you who think you can escape routine, or the desire for it, by going offshore, wrong, sometimes it’s exactly what you want ! You desire and need the discipline that routines bring to offshore sailing that makes this adventure what it is."

The three skippers in Class 1 chasing Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux are refreshing their attack on the fleet leader as he has come to a full stop, caught by the unpredictable conditions in the Doldrums. "There is not a breath of wind, but all the weather files that I have indicated that there is !" His major frustration is seeing his comfortable lead folding in half. Caught in a windless hole with no other solution but to eek out his path mile by mile. "You end up trimming the sails relentlessly, and just as you finish setting the sails, the breeze changes and you feel like all that effort was for nothing." Bernard doesn’t know when he’ll escape, but he is trapped for now, keeping one eye on his competitors behind and another on the weather files which for the moment hold no answer. His two main rivals, Thierry Dubois on Solidaires and Emma Richards on Pindar are both sailing in fits and starts, dodging capricious clouds, which sudden upon them with up to 50 knot gusts and the odd downpour. However their relentless efforts are paying off as they home in on the Swiss boat, and Pindar has even come to within 20 miles of Solidaires - it is clear that they are all hoping that they get the weather window to sneak through the Doldrums before anyone else does.

Positions at 1400hrs UTC, 28th October
 
Class 1
 
– Boat, Lat, Lon, DistRun, AvgBsp, AvgHeading, DTF
– 1 Bobst Group Armor-Lux, 4 59.400 N 23 55.440 W 0.92 kt 165 °T 4373.94 nm
– 2 Solidaires, 6 36.600 N 22 03.720 W 9.71 kt 136 °T 4520.14 nm
– 3 Pindar, 7 32.100 N 22 34.140 W 6.59 kt 169 °T 4544.29 nm
– 4 Hexagon, 10 54.626 N 25 53.169 W 10.21 kt 190 °T 4654.20 nm
– 5 Ocean Planet, 31 49.980 N 11 51.420 W 5.51 kt 200 °T 6105.82 nm
– 6 Tiscali, (in port) 43 27.320 N 8 21.000 W 0.00 kt 0 °T 6799.83 nm
 
Class 2
– 1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, 30 52.260 N 15 24.420 W 3.27 kt 220 °T 0.00 nm 
– 2 Everest Horizontal, 31 01.920 N 11 30.180 W 5.77 kt 242 °T 6072.79 nm
– 3 Spirit of Canada, 31 47.940 N 13 07.080 W 2.22 kt 208 °T 6074.07 nm
– 4 BTC Velocity, 32 02.160 N 12 27.660 W 5.09 kt 220 °T 6102.02 nm
– 5 Spirit of yukoh, 33 24.000 N 15 30.060 W 5.07 kt 198 °T 6111.94 nm
– 6 Bayer Ascensia, 34 18.120 N 13 46.008 W 5.81 kt 217 °T 6195.61 nm

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