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High-speed, high-risk racing

03/11/09

While the race leaders Tanguy de Lamotte and Adrien Hardy on Initiatives-Novedia continue to hold a 110 mile lead and guide the fleet to the mandatory race gate off St. Barts approximately 600 miles south-west of the French duo's Class40, the front runners are not immune from the effects of the storms in the first two weeks at sea. Bruno Jourdren and Bernard Stamm on Cheminées Poujoulat have reported major mainsail damage and have been without weather information for two days. Consequently, Giovanni Soldini and Pietro d'Ali on Telecom Italia have moved back-up to 2nd and currently hold a lead of 15 miles over Jourdren and Stamm, although both boats have indicated that a pit stop in St. Barts to make repairs is a necessity. While Cheminées Poujoulat is handicapped and Telecom Italia has suffered forestay failure, Damien Seguin and Armel Tripon in 4th place on Cargill-MTTM look set to move up the leader board and are currently trailing Jourdren and Stamm by just four miles. Conversely, in 5th place, 76 miles behind Cargill-MTTM at 0800 GMT this morning, Tim Wright and Nicholas Brennan on Sail4Cancer are having a fast ride, currently averaging 10 knots. “Fractional kite up for 24 hours and good progress down the line, even a brief requirement to apply sun cream!” reports Wright this morning. “Full-on helming early on due mainly to the sea state when pushing up to faster angles while avoiding round ups.” Wright’s two year-old Akilaria is performing superbly. “Some great surfs and the boat is really in her element - and very wet - in these conditions in stark contrast to the slamming she has had to endure going upwind,” confirms the British skipper. “More settled by evening and overnight with lighter winds giving a little space to recharge,” he continues, while his Australian co-skipper has been busy with minor repairs. “Nicko made another trip out to end of pole to do further work on the tack lashing,” says Wright. “I’m still trying to figure whether this was essential, or an attempt to get away from the smell of wet kit scattered about the place.”

Trailing Wright and Brennan by 60 miles in 6th place and holding a 40 mile lead over Jouni Romppanen and Sam Öhman on Tieto in 7th, Peter Harding and Miranda Merron on 40 Degrees have been making good speed despite a brief period of drama. “It is rare to get through a 24 hour period on a race without something minor going wrong,” explained Miranda Merron earlier. “Monday was no exception. It started with a wave-related, unsolicited change of course, which set off a chain of events which went from bad to worse. It took us a couple of hours to sort out, and included a trip up the mast. Never a dull moment!” The British duo is averaging 11 knots in the most recent poll but averaged the fleet’s highest speed earlier today at 12.8 knots as the Trade Wind sailing ups the pace. “The night has been overcast, though quite light with the moon,” Merron continues. “We have the small spinnaker up, and  have been flying along during the night in 20-30 knots of wind, and top speeds of 20 knots. We are passed the halfway mark and hope the second part goes a little better than the first half.”

The arrival of the Trade Winds and fast downwind sailing has come at a price. Yesterday, Mike West and Paul Worswick on Keysource reported a high-speed broach resulting in a wrapped spinnaker and Stephen Card and Shaun Murphy on ORBIS in 12th place have also paid the price of Trade Wind exuberance and confused sea. “On Sunday evening we decide to fly the fractional kite and try and make up some lost ground,” explains co-skipper Shaun Murphy this morning. “All was going well and smiles appeared once again, forgetting the several storms that the first part of this journey brought us. However, this was short-lived and at 0200, with a complex sea state, a series of large waves from different directions and with a squall thrown-in caused us to broach.” Pandemonium ensued on ORBIS. “The result was a snuffer and some tapes and the white flag disappearing into the Atlantic,” continues Murphy. “Back to white sails while we recovered.” The Trade Wind temptation soon reappeared. “Tuesday morning, unperturbed by the night’s follies, the very big kite came out and again the memories of the night before were forgotten as boat speed and surfing was the order of the day,” he continues. “Until - if you have not guessed it all ready - a series of large waves from different directions and with a squall thrown-in caused us to broach.” Once again, rapid response was required. “As the kite was being snuffed, the toilet seat - the round thing on the snuffer - fell to the deck along with the snuffing line. ‘Oh dear!’ were the words that rang around the boat,” recalls Murphy. “The mayhem that followed resulted in the kite being trawled behind the boat and recovered over the stern with some damage, so again under white sails.”

For Murphy, the drama is another item on the job list. “Today I guess I will be sewing the kite back together ready for the next outing,” he adds. However, between the periods of intense activity on ORBIS, there is a lighter side to the racing. “Yesterday afternoon we had a wonderful acrobatic display from flying fish and a whale was spotted 40 metres from the boat,” says the British co-skipper. “As we settled down to dinner on the sun terrace, several of the flying fish decided to join us with one landing down the back of Stephen’s shirt. This was returned to the sea, but others were not so luckily having knocked themselves out on impact.”

While the British duo make spinnaker repairs, the Chilean team of Felipe Cubillos and Daniel Bravo Silva in 8th place on Desafio Cabo de Hornos are delivering the highest speed average in the fleet at 11.3 knots despite a total lack of wind instruments. Cubillos explains the technique. “We’ve attached some cotton thread to the shrouds and with the help of a protractor from a school geometry set, we find the wind angle,” says the Chilean skipper. “Through experience we guess the wind strength and then we have all the data we need.” In common with the entire fleet, Cubillos and Bravo Silva are delighted to be sailing off the wind. “Now we are finally in the Trade Winds, those wonderful, very stable winds that – until now – have eluded us, but now make the race very enjoyable,” continues the Chilean skipper. “The present conditions, to be honest, are absolutely perfect: stable wind of 18 knots – we think - temperature of the air and the water, perfect, and the angle by which we are receiving the wind, also perfect,” he reports. “If to all this we added a precious moon that follows us all night, I definitely agree with Daniel that the effort and pain of the past two weeks was worth it.”



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