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Around Alone

Brad Van Liew wins leg two in Cape Town

mercredi 27 novembre 2002 – Information Velux 5 Oceans

Six weeks and two days after leaving Torbay, England, American skipper Brad van Liew sailed his red, white and blue Open 50, Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, across the finish line in Cape Town to win Leg 2 of Around Alone 2002-03. The only ’veteran’ in the race, this was Brad’s second straight leg win and it solidifies his hold on the overall lead for Class 2.


Clearly the win did not come easy as evidenced by the tired look in the skipper’s eyes and a new slim and trim physique gained from days of hard, grinding work. By any measure Van Liew sailed a masterful leg and leaves the second place yacht, Everest Horizontal, skippered by fellow American Tim Kent, a distant 800 miles astern. His official finish time was 13:48:13 GMT (15:48:13 local time) for a total elapsed time of 44 days, 2 hours, 48 minutes, 13 seconds. (This is provisional since Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America incurred a 48 hour penalty for stopping in Spain).

One week after the start Van Liew went in to Bayona, Northern Spain in order to repair a vital reefing line, ahead of the ferocious North Atlantic storm, which subsequently drove the rest of his class and one Open 60 into port, where they all remained trapped by onshore gale force winds and huge breaking seas for 5 whole days.

For the first 24 hours after leaving Spain Van Liew sailed in a sloppy, leftover seaway before finally finding a steady wind to propel him south. His strategy from the outset was to gain some westing on the fleet and he fought hard to get south and west of his opponents. Finally, five days after leaving Spain he had opened up a respectable lead on the rest of his class and never looked back. With each position report Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America extended the lead and by the time Van Liew got to the equator he was already 450 miles ahead of the closest boat.

The South Atlantic was not kind to Van Liew. The high pressure system that dominated the weather pattern, allowing the leading Class 1 boats to cut the corner and sail a shorter distance to Cape Town, had filled in again just as Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America got into the region. As a result Brad had to sail way west and way south to skirt the edge of the light winds. Despite the extra distance sailed the yacht reveled in the strong trade wind conditions and Van Liew continued to increase his lead.

Finally once into the fringes of the Southern Ocean Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America found her stride and the assault on the longest 24-hour distance record for an Open 50 monohull began in earnest. Between 0300GMT November 23rd and 0300 GMT November 24th, he smashed the previous longest 24 hour run by 11 miles with a distance of 345nm covered. Now, with his second Around Alone leg win Brad Van Liew continues to rewrite the history books. 

Provisional Results, Leg 2 : Class 1
– 1st : Bobst Group-Armor Lux finish time 09:59:45 GMT - 29 DAYS 22HRS 59 M 45S
– 2nd : Solidaires finish time 19:42:55 GMT - 30 DAYS 8 HRS 42 M 55S
– 3rd : Pindar finish time 03:27:13 GMT - 30 DAYS 16HRS 27 M 15S
– 4th : Hexagon finish time 02:54:12 GMT - 31 DAYS 15HRS 54 M 12S

Positions at 0600hrs GMT 27th November 2002

Class 1
– Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp DTF (nm)
– 5 Ocean Planet -34.3, 14.5, 12, 199.6nm 
– 6 Tiscali -14.2 -32, 8, 3184.2nm

Class 2
– Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp DTF (nm)
– 1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America -34.1, 17.7, 6, 36.4nm 
– 2 Everest Horizontal -40.5, 2.4, 10, 861.6nm 
– 3 Spirit of Canada -37.4, -2.7, 10, 1048.5nm
– 4 Spirit of yukoh -34.5, -6.7, 8, 1243.6nm
– 5 Bayer Ascensia -32.3, -16.4, 6.2, 1761.2nm 
– 6 BTC Velocity -30, -16.3, 4, 1775.6nm

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