GOR Updates

[Guest]

Not sure from that report what he's complaining about. If they changed the rules after the start OK. Otherwise I'm not sure I see a problem.

[Farrari 4]

It looks like BSL is tied up in Half Moon Bay marina if anyone is interested.

[Guest]

Not sure from that report what he's complaining about. If they changed the rules after the start OK. Otherwise I'm not sure I see a problem.

 

They changed the scoring gate further south so the boats didnt have to slug it out beating the whole time. This was done after two boats had pulled out and another had gone north which was not a good decision by the organisers as it has made this leg very unfair.

[Guest]

The second week at sea for the three Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s still racing east began with continued strong headwinds for the trio in the Roaring Forties. Sunday 5th February marked the fifth consecutive day of headwinds and furthest north, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in third with Phesheya-Racing hove-to in short steep seas as the leaders, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation dropped south to 48S chased hard by Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis.

 

On Tuesday, Phesheya-Racing hove-to a second time to fix problems with their primary and secondary autopilots and while conditions moderated slightly for the two boats further south, more strong headwinds were forecast as the fleet approached the mid-Pacific, bluQube Scoring Gate. Having monitored the weather forecasts closely, the GOR Race Committee made the decision to extend the southern limit of the scoring gate by 180 miles early on Thursday morning, shifting the waypoint from 47S to 50S having evaluated that the boats were passed an area of ice south-west of the gate and the threat of beating into a gale in the most remote section of Leg 3 represented an unacceptable risk to the teams.

 

With the freedom of movement increased and the first taste of off-wind sailing for ten days, Cessna Citation pushed hard, recording averages of over 14 knots and rocketed through the bluQube Scoring Gate taking the maximum six points on Friday, followed through the virtual door by Nannini and Ramon on Saturday with Financial Crisis, handicapped by the destruction of their A2 spinnaker in a pilot error-enforced knockdown.

 

As Nannini and Ramon reached the gate, an area of high pressure put the brakes on hard with Cessna Citation pulling away through the Furious Fifties. As the leading duo dropped south-east towards Cape Horn, the South Africans on Phesheya-Racing finally escaped the clutches of headwinds and steep seas and picked up the pace towards the scoring gate.

 

By 15:00 GMT on Sunday, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire were averaging just under seven knots. “We still have the same ingredients of warm tropical air rotating around a low pressure system, bringing wind and rain, but it’s no longer the same menacing beast that was threatening tropical islands just a few days ago,” reported Nick Leggatt from 44S early on Sunday morning. “The warm, moist air has also caused patches of fog interspersed with rain squalls and gusty, shifty winds, so we are still sailing somewhat conservatively while we wait for things to settle.”

 

With around 640 miles remaining to the bluQube Scoring Gate, the wind should clock round to the north briefly over the next 24 hours, but the South Africans are currently running dead downwind: “We have already put in a couple of gybes today to try and stick to the best course possible,” confirms Leggatt as Phesheya-Racing works south through the Roaring Forties. “We’ve had the A4 spinnaker up and down as the wind has gusted quite strongly at times and with menacing rain clouds all about, we’re taking it easy for the moment,” he adds.

 

Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon broke free from the worst of the light airs over Saturday night GMT, slowing the rapid growth in distance deficit to Cessna Citation caused by the unavoidable area of high pressure. By 15:00 GMT on Sunday, Cessna Citation had fallen into a band of light breeze and speed averages dropped below six knots for Colman and Kuttel while Financial Crisis began to take back some miles, trailing the leaders by 258 miles on Sunday afternoon.

 

The brief lull in activity at the scoring gate provided Nannini with a chance to reflect on the endless upwind hammering to the scoring gate: “These were hard-earned miles, certainly some of the hardest sailing conditions I ever met,” admits the Italian skipper. “When I saw we had some 1,400 miles to the gate, all upwind, I thought back to the OSTAR 2009, my first transatlantic race,” recalls Nannini. “That was certainly the mother of all upwind races and it gave me some extra confidence,” he explains. “Sometimes when you sail upwind for several days, the morale sinks low and you start thinking that you'll never make it; that the boat cannot survive the battering; progress is slow and the prospects look bleak,” continues Nannini.

 

The bluQube Scoring Gate marked a turning point for Nannini and Ramon: “Then, after nearly two weeks of hard core sailing, the best part of which was spent beating upwind in very tough conditions, including an early Force 9 storm that prompted two boats to retire, we are finally through the scoring gate taking second place,” says Nannini. While the gate’s points system provides added incentive to push hard throughout the leg, there is a second purpose for the virtual line: “It forces the fleet to take a more northerly route from New Zealand to Cape Horn avoiding the worst of an area of known icebergs,” he comments.

 

With Financial Crisis reporting a sharp drop in seawater temperature on Saturday, Hugo Ramon is remaining extremely alert as the leading two boats approach a second zone of reported ice. “We’ve had some enormous waves which are stopping us making a good course and any real speed,” reported the Spanish sailor shortly before they picked up speed on Saturday night. “So, if there are icebergs out there, rather than crashing straight into one, it’s more likely a berg will drift right into us!” he believes. “I suppose, in a worst-case scenario, we could climb onto the iceberg, build an igloo and wait to be rescued!”

[Guest]

Sounds painful

 

 

On Sunday afternoon GMT, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation, leading the Global Ocean Race Class40s through the Southern Ocean, ran straight into a band of light wind stretching across the Pacific’s high latitudes with speed averages plummeting to below three knots. Further north-west, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in second on Financial Crisis have held the breeze as they approach 54S, taking a massive 117 miles from Colman and Kuttel in 24 hours. West of the bluQube Scoring Gate, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire have made solid progress dropping south through the Roaring Forties in remarkable conditions with Phesheya-Racing.

 

 

While Colman and Kuttel have been leading the fleet through the currently calm Furious Fifties, Adrian Kuttel took the opportunity to attend to his badly infected fingernails – a problem that arose through diesel spilt in the Class40’s bilge during the upwind pounding west of the scoring gate. “This was a high priority as it was affecting the sailing,” confirms the 44 year-old South African who was finding handling sheets and tying knots extremely difficult with swollen and tender fingers. Kuttel assembled the appropriate tools for the self-administered procedure: “In this case, the sharp knife blade in my trusty - if somewhat rusty - Leatherman and, after much deliberation and internal debate, a wet wipe from our ever-dwindling supply,” he explains.

 

The process is not for the squeamish. “Works procedure was to scratch around the infected fingernail until a point of entry behind the fingernail could be found and the wound could be lanced,” says Kuttel. “Next step was to grunt up, clench jaw, and squeeze the infected fingertip until all the gunk had been expunged via the hole created during the earlier surgical procedure with the Leatherman.” This was then repeated a further nine times. “There was varying degrees of discharge with the amount of discharge being in direct proportion to pain,” he adds. Kuttel is now using antiseptic cream on his damaged hands and his fingers are improving rapidly.

 

Meanwhile, the Italian-Spanish duo on Financial Crisis were making eight knots in the 15:00 GMT position poll on Monday, trailing Cessna Citation by 141 miles as Colman and Kuttel slowed to below two knots. The remoteness of their current location is getting to Hugo Ramon. “We are now getting a very long way south,” reports the Spanish yachtsman as they close in on 54S. “It is now more inhospitable and colder than I’ve ever experienced before,” he continues. “The closest speck of land is an uninhabited lump of rock about 1,700 miles to the north, which is almost the same distance as we have to Cape Horn in front of us.”

 

The isolation in the Southern Ocean is total: “If there was an emergency down here, any quick rescue would be hard to organise,” Ramon advises. “Rescue helicopters simply don’t have the range to reach us and although planes could reach us and drop supplies and equipment, they couldn’t pick us up.” There is also a total absence of shipping: “We’re a long way from commercial routes, so there’s no chance of a merchant ship diverting towards us,” he adds.

 

In reality, there is only one option available: “Conrad and Adrian would be our only hope and turning Cessna Citation around and beating back to our current position would take around 30 hours,” he calculates. “So although we are fighting for every mile to the finish, one thing overcomes the competitive racing: offshore solidarity,” states Ramon. “Philippe Poupon and Raphael Dinelli - to mention only two – will never, ever forget Loïc Peyron and Pete Goss who saved them.” In the inaugural 1989-90 Vendée Globe, Peyron rescued Poupon from his capsized ketch, Fleury Michon X, and Goss turned round and sailed his Open 50 Aqua Corum upwind through gales to rescue Dinelli from his sinking yacht in the Indian Ocean during the 1996-97 Vendée Globe. “The members of this marine union know that to turn back and suspend racing to rescue a fellow competitor is a moral obligation, not a legal necessity.”

 

To the north-west of Financial Crisis by 950 miles and 470 miles from the bluQube Scoring Gate at 15:00 GMT on Monday, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire are amazed by the conditions at 46S: “After a cool night, the sun rose, the cloud cover cleared and blue sky paid us a visit,” reported Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Monday morning. “The whole day has been sunny with blue sky at times and on top of that, it has been warm and we have not worn our boots at all. I keep asking myself are we in the South Pacific or not?” The South Africans have been averaging between seven and ten knots for the past 24 hours and the following wind is forecast to keep with them as the cross the gate.

 

Leggatt and Hutton-Squire have used the stable conditions to carry out work on Phesheya-Racing: “We finished installing the Garmin Chart plotter last night and it worked first time with no hiccups,” Hutton-Squire continues. “Now we can use the radar on the Garmin plotter from down below to monitor ice as we head south,” she adds. “Once we have rounded the Horn, we’ll use it to find fishing boats too.” During the early stages of GOR Leg 1 from Palma to Cape Town, poorly-lit fishing boats were a constant hazard off the coast of Africa. “As they don’t have AIS, we could not see them from down below, but now with our newly installed Garmin plotter, we can monitor things carefully from the chart table.”

[Guest]

has anyone heard how Ross Field is getting on ? are they planing to head out again soon on BSL ?

[Guest]

As the two leading boats in the Global Ocean Race (GOR) escape from a high pressure ridge stretching across the unbelievably calm Furious Fifties, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon are celebrating a successful game of catch-up and a brief spell at the front of the fleet on Financial Crisis while in third place on Phesheya-Racing, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire are battling 40+ knot squalls as they barrel downwind towards the bluQube Scoring Gate.

 

 

In the 15:00 GMT position poll on Wednesday, Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis were gradually picking up speed as the high pressure ridge recedes to the north, allowing the two Class40s to continue towards Cape Horn, 1,300 miles to the east with Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation back in the lead by 14 miles, finding the new northerly breeze first. Furthest south at 56S and 45 miles off Colman and Kuttel’s starboard quarter, Marco Nannini can hardly believe he’s back near the front: “Who would have imagined that in the third and most symbolic of legs, heading for Cape Horn, we would be battling for the lead of the Global Ocean Race,” comments Nannini. “The storms of the early part of this leg seem now a distant memory and in the southern depths of the Pacific Ocean at 55 degrees South, on the edge of iceberg territory, we are sailing in sunshine, flat waters and just enough wind - around six to eight knots - to keep moving,” he reported early on Wednesday morning.

 

 

As Financial Crisis moved into the lead at midnight GMT Tuesday/Wednesday, Hugo Ramon was ecstatic: “Today, I’m in love with life,” revealed the Spanish sailor. “And life, like a good lover, has given me a gift: a brief moment of being leaders of the Global Ocean Race after two weeks of strong winds and intense fights.” However, Financial Crisis is handicapped by the destruction of the boat’s A2 masthead spinnaker: “We know that it may be impossible, or very difficult, to stay elbow-to-elbow with Cessna Citation, but I’m proud of ourselves while it lasts,” he continues. “In order to celebrate the position of being the leaders, I have decided to take off my filthy rags and pass a damp hand towel over me for the first time since the start on 29 January. I can’t tell which parts of me are blue with cold, or just really dirty!” reveals Ramon.

 

 

As Nannini and Ramon caught Cessna Citation, the conditions were extremely un-Southern Ocean: “The wind is light and we were the only thing in the Southern Ocean causing a ripple in the water as we crept forward under the masthead Code 0,” says Ramon. “Our movements about the boat have been clumsy with the big waves we’ve had since the start, but we’ve recovered our balance and we’re trying to keep movement to a minimum,” he adds as the Italian-Spanish team replicate a windless inshore regatta: “The word ‘fine trimming’ has returned to our onboard vocabulary and in spite of the polar cold, it is worth the pain to spend more time on deck to gain one hundredth of knot,” he continues. “When returning to the boat’s interior, we monopolized the kettle, wrapping our hands around it as we make some tea.”

 

 

Currently averaging 6.2 knots, Marco Nannini is frank about the huge recent gains: “Admittedly, the weather has helped us in this feat as a ridge of light airs slowed down the leading boat whilst we kept more wind and closed in, but now it’s all game-on again,” he explains. “We’re in the same winds and battling for the lead of the race,” confirms the Italian skipper. “I would have never imagined this to be possible, the spirits are high and we are enjoying the moment.” Weather models currently suggest there may be a period of upwind sailing ahead for both Financial Crisis and Cessna Citation.

 

 

Meanwhile, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in third on Phesheya-Racing are eating into the deficit held by the leaders as they hammer downwind with 33 miles remaining until the South African team crosses the mid-Pacific, bluQube Scoring Gate. Making the best speed averages in the fleet on Wednesday afternoon, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire are in strong westerly breeze with gusts up to 46 knots. Although Phesheya-Racing has sophisticated, predictive weather software and the duo are skilled in forecasting analysis, they have received some unexpected guidance via their Sat-C satellite communications terminal. “The Sat-C is a fairly basic, but quite clever, communications system allowing only simple text messages to be sent and received,” explains Phillippa Hutton-Squire. “This system allows Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres worldwide to send weather forecasts, weather warnings, ice warnings, navigation warnings and search and rescue messages to all ships within their area of responsibility,” she continues. “We are still in the New Zealand MRCC area and consequently receiving generic weather forecasts from the New Zealand MRCC, but a few days ago we were surprised to find that we were suddenly receiving personalised forecasts directly from the Chilean MRCC.”

 

 

At 48S and a fraction under 2,000 miles from the coast of Chile, Phesheya-Racing will soon enter Chilean MRCC territory: “As we are about to cross into their area of responsibility we had been expecting to start receiving messages soon,” adds Hutton-Squire. “But to receive personal weather forecasts directly is quite a bonus and very much appreciated.”

 

 

In the South Atlantic, the return of the Dutch Class40 and GOR entry, Sec. Hayai, is fully underway. Following a dismasting on the first night out of Cape Town in Leg 2, Nico Budel and his team have been working to re-join the GOR. Although competing in Leg 2 and Leg 3 was impossible, a new mast has been fitted and Nico Budel set sail from Cape Town single-handed early on Wednesday morning heading for Punta del Este, Uruguay, where he will rendezvous with the GOR fleet and his co-skipper for Leg 4, Erik van Vuuren.

[Guest]

Exceptional weather continues for the Global Ocean Race (GOR) leaders Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis below 56S, while Phesheya-Racing rapidly reduces the distance deficit as the South Africans drop deeper into the high latitudes following severe conditions.

 

At the front of the fleet, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation and the Italian-Spanish duo of Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis are confronted with very unusual weather as they close into 1,000 miles of Drake Passage and the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate. Centred approximately 370 miles south of the two Class40 at 63S, a high pressure system has formed and will gradually drift towards the boats, while 270 miles to the north, a low pressure system has formed. Sailing between the two systems, the net result for Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis is continued headwinds

 

At 02:00 GMT on Friday, Colman and Kuttel made a break for the north, tacking onto starboard with Cessna Citation, heading towards the low and tacking back to the south after six hours as stronger easterlies and south-easterly winds began at the bottom of the system. Meanwhile, Nannini and Ramon were dropping below 58S – below the latitude of Cape Horn. At 15:00 GMT on Friday, Financial Crisis had crossed 59S and was continuing deeper into the Southern Ocean with Antarctica 850 miles off the bow. “Although we are out of dense iceberg territory, a few bergs survive long into the summer and drift north towards our current position,” says Nannini of the iceberg sighting made by Colman and Kuttel late on Wednesday. “We are keeping a constant radar lookout and visually inspect the horizon regularly,” he explains. “So far, luckily I can only report an amazing setting of the moon during the night which lit beneath the layer of clouds with an incredible amber glow followed by a remarkable sunrise with spectacular colours in a very crisp morning.”

 

Averaging just over seven knots on Friday afternoon and trailing Cessna Citation by just seven miles, Nannini reported on the recent conditions: “We’re still facing very unusual and calm conditions, we haven't seen winds above ten knots for a few days now,” he says. “We’ve been flying our light winds sails typically reserved for the Doldrums rather than the high latitudes.” During the Wellington stopover, Nannini and Ramon had debated on sending their upwind Code 0 ahead to Punta del Este in the GOR’s shipping container and carrying an extra off wind sail instead. “Luckily we didn't as it would have been a disaster,” says the Italian skipper. “The weather has been difficult to read, very often the actual conditions we meet differ from the forecast and it is a bit of a lottery as to what we should expect,” he reports. “I don't even know if it is an advantage to be south of Cessna,” Nannini adds as the north-south separation between the two boats reaches 120 miles. “We could gain, or we could lose, but we are pressing on hoping for another lucky break.” The southern position could pay well for Nannini and Ramon as with the wind forecast to go right and to the south in the next 24 hours, Financial Crisis may have good, fast reaching conditions towards Cape Horn.

 

While the two Class40s fight it out to the south, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire are making major gains with Phesheya-Racing, taking around 200 miles out of the leaders in three days as they work south through the Furious Fifties. Although Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis have recently encountered relatively calm conditions, it’s a very different environment at 51S: “We’ve been working our way through a ridge of high pressure between two gale systems,” reported Nick Leggatt on Friday afternoon. The high pressure delivered light winds, clear skies and bearable temperatures, but a dramatic change was on the way. “As the ridge moved away from us and the barometer started to drop, the wind increased steadily in pre- frontal conditions,” he continues. “These are the classic Southern Ocean sleigh-ride moments that can be memorised and photographed, producing famous images that make every ocean racer want to be there to experience the thrill of it.”

 

Then reality took hold as the frontal system approached: “The clouds have built up steadily and the cloud base has lowered, eventually obscuring the horizon, but why it is always at night is a bit of a mystery,” questions Leggatt. “Then the rain starts; an icy drizzle at first, but becoming heavier; the seas build-up quickly until we are surfing down five metre waves that break onto the deck.” The risk of hypothermia and exhaustion increases dramatically: “We retreat to the safety of the cabin once the deck is secured with the main halyard left ready to run so that we can quickly drop down to the third reef,” he explains.

 

With Phesheya-Racing fully prepared, the speed of the weather change is still surprising for Leggatt and Hutton-Squire: “Suddenly, the front is upon us with no warning,” continues Nick Leggatt. “The wind instruments go from 25-30-35-40-45 knots almost instantly, at the same time as registering a wind shift of nearly 90 degrees.” As the icy blast hits the Class40, the first casualty is electronic: “Unable to cope with the combination of wind and waves, the autopilot simply gives up with the alarm shrieking at us.” Pilotless, Phesheya-Racing was beam-to the sea with a risk of capsize and dismasting. “This is now the cold, hard reality of the Southern Ocean,” confirms Leggatt. “The boat is lying on her beam ends at the mercy of the waves with the sails trying to flog themselves to pieces and trying to tear the rig out of the boat.”

 

For 44 year-old Leggatt, this is the third time he has raced through the Pacific and the GOR will mark his fifth rounding of Cape Horn, but familiarity doesn’t make the conditions any more manageable: “These moments when a Southern Ocean gale sweeps across your path always bring a mixture of fear and exhilaration,” he admits. “No matter how many of these gales you weather, you still fear for the safety of the boat and crew,” adds Leggatt. “The memories of these great Southern Ocean gales are ours alone, as they are almost impossible to record, though we can try to share our stories, and the lessons that we learn should be for the benefit of everybody.”

 

Since their latest mid-Pacific battering, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire are running downwind in around 15 knots of north-westerly wind, trailing the GOR leader by 779 miles.

[Guest]

At 01:00 GMT on Saturday morning, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon stopped their dive south, bounced off latitude 60S within miles of a high pressure zone’s windless core and - three hours later – took the lead of the Global Ocean Race (GOR) with Class40 Financial Crisis. Making the best speed averages of the trio, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire continue to gain ground on the leaders with Phesheya-Racing as they approach the known iceberg area south-east of the bluQube Scoring gate below 55S.

 

Since taking the lead early on Saturday, Nannini and Ramon have managed to average one knot faster than Cessna Citation. “The battle with Cessna continues on the high seas,” reports Nannini. For the Italian-Spanish team on Financial Crisis, the tack north-east taken by Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel with Cessna Citation on Friday played into their hands. “We welcomed their move as we know that as long as we are in the same winds, we cannot beat a latest generation boat,” says Nannini of Colman’s Akilaria RC2. “It's like a very slow game of chess where each move takes days to show its merits or prove to be an error.”

 

At 15:00 GMT on Saturday, the moves on Financial Crisis were paying well and a lead of 30 miles had been built with Nannini and Ramon 60 miles to the south of Colman and Kuttel as the headwinds continued. “We have had a bit of luck with the weather helping us catch them when they got away after the first ten days of racing,” Nannini concedes. “Upwind we can still play cat and mouse, but soon when the wind shifts and we'll be reaching, we will struggle to keep the same speeds.”

 

While the leaders wait for the wind shift down by 60S, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire are continuing to make good speed downwind reducing the distance deficit as they slide south through the Furious Fifties. “At the moment we’re sailing in a cold, grey fog with the Garmin radar on permanent watch for icebergs,” reported Phillippa Hutton-Squire early on Saturday as they edge closer to the area below 55S and between 120-110W where icebergs have been recorded by satellite imagery. On Saturday afternoon, the South African duo was also around 300 miles NNW of the two icebergs confirmed visually by Colman and Kuttel on Thursday.

 

Currently at 53S, Hutton-Squire reports nine hours of darkness which are split into three-hour watches and with temperatures at 8C, it’s an uncomfortable period: “It’s bitter and very damp on deck and getting out of bed straight into the cold can be painful,” she confirms. However, there are distraction from the numbing cold and the constant radar monitoring duties: “The are two things we are keeping an eye out for on the clear nights but haven’t seen yet,” continues Hutton-Squire. “The Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis, are strange, shimmering patterns of light in the night sky caused by solar activation of the ionosphere,” she explains. “Another phenomenon which can be experienced when far enough south is a faint glow on the southern horizon like the lights of a large city caused by the light of the sun reflecting off the ice and snow of the Antarctic.”

 

In the 15:00 GMT position poll on Saturday, Phesheya-Racing was making the best speed in the fleet at just under nine knots, trailing Financial Crisis by 739 miles – a 40-mile gain on the leaders in the past 24 hours.

 

After 20 days of hard racing, both Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing have reported non-catastrophic damage on board as evidence of the stress and loads of 4,000 miles of Pacific Ocean racing begin to appear. “We’ve broken a sheave on the boom-end sheave box,” reports Marco Nannini. “This caused one of the reefing pennants to damage the carbon sheave separators,” he explains. “Not a big deal, but it will make reefing a slightly lengthier manoeuvre.” There is also a broken mainsail car on Financial Crisis. “This is not an issue in light winds, but we have to hope this will not prove to be a problem in the heavy downwind conditions we expect later at the Horn.”

 

 

On Phesheya-Racing, Phillippa Hutton-Squire’s sleep last night was abruptly interrupted by a load bang: “Next thing I knew, Nick was preparing to drop the kite and it was boots on and jacket on in a fashion and up on deck,” she reports. The spinnaker’s tackline fitting had failed and Hutton-Squire quickly prepared to let the halyard run while Leggatt pulled down the snuffer sock on the foredeck. “We were very lucky that there was only ten to 15 knots of wind and the swell was only two metres,” says Hutton-Squire. “Nick managed to snuff the kite before it wrapped around the spreaders or the forestay.” Leggatt suspended himself on the bowsprit fixing a lashing for the tackline and the sail was re-hoisted in under 20 minutes.

[Hupane 0]

Hi all,

 

Looks like plenty of good interest in the Class 40's and GOR while we were in NZL - unbelieveable support locally in Wellington. Unfortunately we are back in NZL as you all know. We are trying to figure out what to do in the immediate future, but in any case the boat is for sale, and someone might want to take the opportunity of having a very good boat already here to get into the class - a brilliant boat, at a fraction of the cost of new, fully sorted and optimised with everything you will ever need. On most points of sail the fastest Class 40 design out there. Go on, you know you want to...

 

So, I am unashamedly broadcasting that the boat is for sale. Apologies if this is not the done thing on your local forums, but I see no other way of getting to some interested parties. Here is some basic information:

 

Verdier design TYKER 40 no. 76 now seriously for sale. Full North New Zealand inventory incl. 3DL, plus many spares (Incidences, North) - effectively 2+ full sail inventories. Spare Mast & Spreaders. Spare rudders. Spare sprit. Category Zero. Extensive spare rigging. Lifting Rudders. All in Excellent condition.

 

Comprehensive systems upgrade 2011. Contact Campbell Field, cmf@cmfield.eu, +44 7884 442 657

 

Currently lying at Half Moon Bay.

 

Give me a call on 0220 819 118 up until 2345 on Friday the 24th (that's when I take off back to the UK...) or drop me an email at the address above.

 

Cheers,

Campbell.

[Guest]

Week 3 (12-19 February) of the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) began with a taste of downwind sailing for the trio of Class40s in the Pacific. For the fleet leaders, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on the Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation, swift progress was brief as the Kiwi-South African duo ran straight into a high pressure ridge with speeds dropping to sub-three knots.

 

While the calm conditions allowed Adrian Kuttel to carry out some excruciating home-surgery on his badly infected finger nails, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon holding second place were piling in from the north-west with Financial Crisis and by Wednesday, both Class40s were elbow-to-elbow at 56S, as the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire crossed the bluQube Scoring Gate in third on Phesheya-Racing.

 

As the South Africans dropped south, hammered by a vicious cold front, Colman and Kuttel on Cessna Citation reported sighting two icebergs at 55S and vigilance was increased throughout the three boats as the leaders descended deeper into the Southern Ocean. By Friday, with just over 1,000 miles to Cape Horn, Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis were at 59S in light, frigid headwinds as Leggatt and Hutton-Squire continued to reel in the leaders. Early on Saturday GMT, Nannini and Ramon’s southerly option – dropping down to 60S – paid-off and Financial Crisis took the lead. Over Saturday night and Sunday morning the wind moved south and a fast reach to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate for the two leaders was underway.

 

For the front runners, speeds rose over Saturday night, peaking at an average of 11.5 knots for Financial Crisis at 09:00 GMT on Sunday as Nannini and Ramon climbed away from 60S with their course converging with Colman and Kuttel on Cessna Citation. Taking the lead after 20 days of racing through the Pacific was a milestone for Marco Nannini: “Finally, our dive to penguin latitudes paid its dividends and, for now, this is a day I'll never forget and I guess my grandchildren will eventually get sick of hearing the story told a million times over!” he reported on Sunday morning. “We’re obviously incredibly happy as six months ago I would have never even entertain the possibility of leading the race on the approach to Cape Horn,” adds the Italian skipper. “We’re savouring the moment like a rare whiskey, but we’re under no illusion that we will be able to maintain our lead,” he warns.

 

In the 15:00 GMT position poll on Sunday, Cessna Citation had gained 24 miles over 24 hours. “We’ll certainly fight hard, but over the next two days we will have strong-wind reaching conditions, probably Cessna's strongest point of sail,” Nannini predicts. His co-skipper, Hugo Ramon has raced on Cessna Citation and is fully aware of the boat’s potential: “Pessimistic? No, just a realist,” comments the 26 year-old skipper. “We know clearly what cards are on the table and there’s not much we can do about it,” he adds. “Now it’s all down to speed and Adrian and Conrad know how to get the best from their very fast boat,” Ramon confirms. “Still, there are many unknowns before we reach Cape Horn,” he concludes mysteriously.

 

On Cessna Citation, Conrad Colman was happy that the north-south separation with Financial Crisis was reduced to 14 miles on Sunday afternoon: “Thankfully, we have been able to maintain quite a high reaching angle with the boat’s favourite sail and as Marco and Hugo have come north on the new breeze, their north-south leverage has been decreasing along with their lead,” he believes. “Being closer together reduces the risks that they will find a favourable shift and leave us for dead.”

 

 

By Sunday afternoon, Cessna Citation was trailing Financial Crisis by just six miles and Colman was supressing the urge to push too hard. “We must sail prudently in these cold and unforgiving conditions,” he explains. “The wind blows harder here for a given wind speed, so sail settings that worked in the warmer Atlantic climes need to be adjusted to avoid wipe outs.” Currently, the two lead boats have an ETA of Wednesday at the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate, marking an exit from the Southern Ocean. “However, the race doesn’t stop at this mythical landmark, especially as a low pressure system also has the same forecasted arrival time!” warns Colman.

 

 

While the two southern Class40s scrap for the leadership at 57S, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire continue broad reaching south in third place with Phesheya-Racing as they edge closer to the location of icebergs spotted by Cessna Citation late last week. “After a night of thick, cold fog brought on by moist northerly air moving in over colder seawater, we are now enjoying some remarkable smooth water and steady northerly winds with a layer of high, broken cloud above us,” Nick Leggatt described late on Saturday night GMT.

 

Averaging 8.6 knots on Sunday afternoon, the huge gains made by the South Africans have ended as Financial Crisis and Cessna Citation accelerate towards Cape Horn 740 miles to the south-east, but the trio of Class40s share a common fixation with the cold. For Leggatt and Hutton-Squire, riding on the back of a high pressure system, conditions are bearable at 55S: “The temperature has warmed up to over ten degrees now and it is amazing how our spirits are lifted by just a couple of degrees of warmth in the air!” says Leggatt. “It is also remarkable that just a few days ago we were complaining that ten degrees is really cold!”

 

Furthest south, Nannini and Ramon are feeling the bitter Antarctic cold: “We’re still on full time radar watch for icebergs, although the risk of finding one in our way should be progressively decreasing, but water temperature is at the lowest we've seen at just 6C, air temperature is 4C and with the wind chill we had the dubious pleasure of fine snow earlier today,” reports Nannini. On Cessna Citation, Colman and Kuttel have exclusively used their hydrogenerator for power generation and without the heat from the engine during battery charging, there is no source of warmth on board. “As we only have a tiny camping stove for boiling cup-fuls at a time, our bodies are the primary source of heat on board,” explains Colman. “In an effort to conserve our meagre supply of heat, we keep the companion way doors closed except when one has to rush out to ease the sheets in a gust.” Sealed in their 40ft ice locker, there is a drawback to this method of heat conservation. “In a small, closed environment our breath condenses on the inner surface of the hull and deck, leaving them constantly dripping until pools form in the crevices in the structure of the boat,” he explains. “At least we’re not sinking, but the rate of accumulation is staggering!”

 

The GOR’s Race Ambassador, Dee Caffari, has race around Cape Horn four times and each occasion has been memorable for a number of different reasons. In her latest video, Dee discusses the emotional, physical and tactical implications of rounding the world’s most notorious cape.

[Guest]

sad to hear that you guys arn't continuing on with the race..... how is Ross these days?...how are the injuries recovering.?

[Guest]

sad to hear that you guys arn't continuing on with the race..... how is Ross these days?...how are the injuries recovering.?

 

We will be interviewing Campbell shortly and will ask him these questions and any other that you would like to ask him. The link to ask a question is viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18922.

[Guest]

At 18:00 GMT on Sunday, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel re-took the lead in Leg 3 of the Global Ocean Race (GOR) with Cessna Citation as Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon climbed north with Financial Crisis, dropping back to second place as the new leaders built on their lead overnight. In third place with Phesheya-Racing, the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire have reached 56S – the same latitude as Cape Horn 1,200 miles to the east – and have passed the area of iceberg sightings reported by Cessna Citation last Wednesday.

 

As Leggatt and Hutton-Squire drop deeper into the Southern Ocean, more clothing is being broken out on Phesheya-Racing. Phillippa Hutton-Squire describes the latest trends in the Furious Fifties: “This week we have thick fleece thermals and Sealskinz waterproof socks,” she explains. “I‘m wearing a thin layer of normal thermals under my thick thermals, then we pull on our mid-layers and then our normal foul weather gear,” says Hutton-Squire. “So, once you’re dressed to go outside, you feel and walk like a penguin!” Fresh zip-lock bags of supplies have just been opened by the South Africans: “Everything is packed into little bags from the sugar and tea with the right portion for the week, the toilet paper, clean dish towels, fruit cake.... can you imagine arriving at Week 4 after the whole boat has been covered in condensation for days and your soft, two-ply toilet paper is wet?” she asks. “Would that not make you grumpy?”

 

With the numbing cold, food is increasingly important: “It’s essential that we get enough calories and carbohydrates inside us to help us stay warm and have enough energy to work the boat,” continues Hutton-Squire. “I think my portions have doubled since the weather has got so much cooler and Nick never seems to stop eating!” she notes. “Breakfast, snack snack, sleep, lunch, snack snack, sleep, dinner and then he eat his way through the dark hours too, however he hasn’t put on weight yet!”

 

The duo has finished their on board supplies of drinking water and while an emergency stock of bottled water remains for use if the lift raft is deployed, desalinated seawater is now the primary supply: “Right now the water maker is pumping away and making us enough water for dinner tonight and tomorrow,” continues Hutton-Squire. “It’s coming straight from the ocean where the water temperature is 8C. It’s like drinking water straight from the fridge in the middle of winter and goes down inside you and makes you cold inside.”

 

Meanwhile, 737 miles to the east at 15:00 GMT on Monday, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon were chasing Colman and Kuttel hard with 450 miles remaining to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate. In reaching conditions, the option for Financial Crisis was obvious. Hugo Ramon explains: “The most intelligent tactic was to move north at speed and close the lateral separation between us and Cessna, then plant ourselves in front in a covering position….in theory!” In reality, Financial Crisis passed 13 miles behind Colman and Kuttel at midnight Sunday/Monday. “We were a bit too optimistic about the capabilities of our boat,” admits Ramon. “She’s older and narrower than Cessna without so much form stability, so we were forced to reduce sail to stop being overpowered and to avoid burying the bow.”

 

However, Nannini and Ramon have been carrying as much canvas as they dare, although the result hasn’t always been favourable and on Sunday, the tack line of the Code 5 parted: “The sail became a brutal, uncontrollable beast,” recalls Ramon who went forward in the pitch dark as Nannini handled the halyard. “We got the sail down, but I was beaten and bruised,” says the Spanish skipper following an encounter with the sail’s tack furler as it thrashed about the foredeck. “It weighs about 1.5kg and hit me right on the head, then came back for more and smacked me right on the nose,” reports Ramon. “I should really be missing part of my face as the furler has lots of sharp pieces sticking out,” he adds. “It was so cold on deck that I couldn’t really feel anything, but once I got down below and started to warm up, it really, really began to hurt.”

 

In the 15:00 GMT position poll on Monday, Colman and Kuttel had increased their lead by 35 miles since overtaking Nannini and Ramon with Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis averaging between seven and nine knots as the extremely shifty wind clocks round to the west.

 

 

Although Nick Leggatt has already rounded Cape Horn five times, the GOR’s Leg 3 will be a debut at the world’s southernmost cape for the remaining five skippers. In the memory of the late Chilean round-the-world yachtsman and former GOR competitor, Felipe Cubillos, the first GOR Class40 to cross the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate running south from Horn Island’s western lighthouse will receive a replica of the Albatross sculpture located on Horn Island. Furthermore, the Class40 team that supplies the most accurate ETA at the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate submitted before crossing a point 1,000 miles west of the cape will receive membership to the Royal Institute of Navigation in Kensington, London, and trophies awarded by Alan Green of the GOR Race Committee.

 

 

The leading pair of boats has submitted their Cape Horn ETAs with Colman and Kuttel on Cessna Citation betting on 05:00 GMT on Wednesday and Nannini and Ramon on Financial Crisis predicting 21:00 GMT on Wednesday. Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire have a further 200 miles remaining before they must submit the ETA for Phesheya-Racing.

[Guest]

the class 40's are back at it again and will be rolling into the wind and the waves yet again.

 

 

For the two frontrunners in the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race (GOR) there has been a tactical dilemma over the past 24 hours as an intense low pressure system rumbles towards Drake Passage and Cape Horn. By Tuesday afternoon, both Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis had committed to their individual options and the next 24 hours will be the hardest sailing of the circumnavigation for the two teams.

 

Three options were available: Should Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis sail as hard as they can and attempt to outrun a gale that threatens Force 8-9 and pass through the shallow and treacherous passage ahead of the system? Should they battle on into Drake Passage towards a hostile coast with notoriously unpredictable conditions and hope their boats can withstand the punishment? Or should they slow down, judge the system’s track and – in theory - ride through the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate in the churning water behind the low pressure.

 

As the South Africans to the west on Phesheya-Racing deal with their own demons in the shape of a high pressure system forecast to frustrate progress to Cape Horn, for Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation at the front of the fleet and Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in second on Financial Crisis, a low pressure system building west of the Antarctic Peninsular to the south of the boats has been a major focus for the past two days. With weather files predicting that the system will sweep quickly north-east delivering over 40+ knots and intercepting the two Class40s as they round Cape Horn, the situation was complex.

 

Weather files notoriously under-predict the wind strength in the high latitudes and although the GOR fleet has already encountered conditions in excess of 40 knots in Leg 3, the nature of Drake Passage and Cape Horn dramatically increases the threat to boat preservation and crew safety. At the 600-mile wide channel between Horn Island and the Antarctic Peninsular the seabed suddenly rises from 4,000 metres to just 200 metres in a matter of miles, creating an underwater cliff face. Consequently, the winds predicted will create ferocious conditions as the large, rolling, Southern Ocean waves are driven hard against the world’s steepest natural gradient at the western entrance to Drake Passage.

 

On Monday night GMT, email traffic between the trio of boats increased as advice and opinions were traded with each skipper volunteering frank and honest views on strategy in the forthcoming maelstrom at Cape Horn. With the low pressure system beginning to gather pace off Antarctica, any decision had to be made rapidly and early on Tuesday, Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis made their calls. Colman and Kuttel on their Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation opted to hammer downwind straight for the gate, keeping in the deeper water south of the Isla Diego Ramirez Islands 60 miles SSW of Cape Horn at the southern tip of the Latin America’s continental shelf with the target of outrunning the strongest winds.

 

Throughout Tuesday, Colman and Kuttel kept the speed averages above 13 knots, giving all they had to clear Cape Horn by the time the storm arrived and by 15:00 GMT, Cessna Citation was 187 miles south-west of Cape Horn heading for the southern tip of the continental shelf at around 14 knots.

 

Before making the decision on Financial Crisis, Marco Nannini debated the options: “The weather files show sustained winds of around 40 knots, but the reality is that we should expect far more than this,” explained Nannini. “After the cold front the unstable air mass could mean winds gusting 60-70 knots or more,” he adds. “We would need to stay off the continental shelf to avoid the worst of the steep waves that form where the sea bed rises sharply, much the same way as in the Bay of Biscay - unsurprisingly another nasty place in bad weather,” comments the Italian skipper. “Given the wind direction it would be easy to be pushed over the shelf and find ourselves struggling to keep away from land and unable to ride the storm with no space to run downwind.”

 

With the loss of their big spinnaker, Nannini and Ramon were denied the option taken by Cessna Citation of outrunning the system and heading into the thick of the gale had no appeal: “Serious weather would certainly be frightening, possibly not life threatening, but undoubtedly the risk of damage would be high,” says Nannini. At 02:00 GMT on Tuesday, the Italian-Spanish team made their call, dropping south-east under triple-reefed main and staysail into building headwinds ahead of the low pressure.

 

By 15:00 GMT, Nannini and Ramon had succeeded in slowing Financial Crisis down to below four knots, watching their Distance To Leader figures rise exponentially as they continued their waiting game with the low pressure system. There is currently no guarantee that the storm will miss Financial Crisis entirely and should Nannini and Ramon be forced to run downwind in the gale, they have around 300 miles of sea room before they risk running into Chile.

 

Meanwhile, on Phesheya-Racing, Nick Leggatt’s sixth rounding of Cape Horn and Phillippa Hutton-Squire’s debut at the cape has been put back: “The past 24 hours aboard Phesheya-Racing have seen us cover some easy miles in flat water and moderate reaching conditions,” reported Leggatt as the South Africans reach 57S. “The latest forecast shows that the high pressure has not moved as far north as we might have hoped and it looks as if we are in for a couple of days of light and variable winds,” says Leggatt.

 

The unreadable conditions make any Cape Horn ETA complicated. “It looks as if it could still take us a good week to cover these final 1,200 miles,” he confirms. “We will try and stay as close to the south side of the high pressure as we can and hopefully by doing that we will maintain predominantly westerly breezes though it could go very light for a time.” On Tuesday afternoon Leggatt and Hutton-Squire were still making good speed, averaging over nine knots, and tracking the high pressure’s progress ahead of them.

 

The Class40 skippers will be working hard to preserve themselves and their boats in the predicted conditions, but there is also glory and many prizes to be won at Cape Horn. In the memory of the late Chilean round-the-world yachtsman and former GOR competitor, Felipe Cubillos, the first GOR Class40 to cross the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate running south from Horn Island’s western lighthouse will receive a replica of the Albatross sculpture located on Horn Island; the Class40 team that supplied the most accurate ETA at the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate submitted before crossing a point 1,000 miles west of the cape will receive membership to the Royal Institute of Navigation in London and trophies awarded by Alan Green of the GOR Race Committee.

 

An additional prize from the GOR’s Official Time Keeper and sponsor, Luminox, will be awarded to the team supplying the best Cape Horn-related photograph. Before the start of Leg 3 in Wellington, Luminox supplied each team member with a Steel Colormark watch – a rugged design with self-powered, high-visibility illumination on the hands and numerals that has found favour with high-risk sports competitors. The prize winner will be presented with a Luminox Yachting Countdown Timer watch following the Leg 3 finish in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

 

The GOR-involvement by Luminox goes beyond just branding and time keeping. Andre Bernheim, head of Mondaine Watch Ltd in Zurich, has been racing keelboats for over 30 years at European and World Championship-level: “What the Global Ocean Race sailors are doing when racing around the world on their 40ft yachts is still beyond my imagination and I wouldn’t have the courage to do anything similar,” says Bernheim. “It is high adrenaline, pure adventure and reserved for a few people around the globe who dare to put their lives at such risks,” he adds. “All this fits perfectly with the brand statement of Luminox.”

 

 

Luminox watches have a reputation for rugged reliability – characteristics that have made the watches the choice of the US Navy SEALs and US Air Force. “Beside this, Luminox fits perfectly to the equipment these sailors need,” Bernheim continues. “Allowing them to read the time all the time, day and night, which is guaranteed by Luminox's Always Visible Technology,” he explains. “Luminox, therefore, is one piece of the essential gear which the sailors are wearing which is the message of our brand in various areas of Sea, Air and Land,” says Bernheim. “Luminox are built for extreme conditions and if they are good enough for these extreme sportsmen sailing around the globe, it is certainly good for the rest of us.”

[Guest]

any one else watching the weather as these boats get close to cape horn?..

looks like the second placed boat is laying a hull and waiting for the storm to pass thru... while the kiwi conrad coleman winning the race is guning it to try and get past the horn before teh storm.... lets see whats to happen in the next 12/24 hours..

[SloopJohnB 323]

Interesting tactics here....

 

go for it.....

 

or

 

wait for it to pass.

 

The old saying....

 

guts and glory....

 

might apply here.

[Guest]

In the middle of the Southern Ocean night at 06:25 GMT on Wednesday, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate with Class40 Cessna Citation at the head of the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet.

 

The 28 year-old Kiwi, Colman, and his 41 year-old South African co-skipper, Kuttel, now join the ranks of Cape Horners and take the Felipe Cubillos Trophy in memory of the late Chilean yachtsman and skipper of the first Class40 to round Cape Horn in the 2008-09 GOR.

 

Colman and Kuttel had pushed hard throughout Tuesday hitting 14-knot averages to beat the gale forecast to hit Cape Horn: “It was pretty intense yesterday, with 30 knots sustained, gusting more,” Colman reported on Wednesday morning shortly after rounding the cape. “I put myself on the helm for nine hours straight to make the best progress possible with the small running spinnaker,” he explains. “Following a backing shift in the wind, we were still able to make good miles east with flatter sails and as the squalls intensified we ended up broad reaching under just the staysail and double-reefed main.”

 

Colman and Kuttel crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate at 57S, 87 miles south of Horn Island, clipping the southern tip of Latin America’s continental shelf and wisely avoiding the shallower water closer to the cape. “I finally had a nap just before crossing the magic line of longitude and climbed into the sleeping bag with a huge satisfied smile on my face,” says the Kiwi skipper. “A pretty special place to be and what a way to do it!” Colman exclaims. “First place at Cape Horn in my first circumnavigation after all the challenges just to get here. Very memorable.” Having submitted their Cape Horn ETA on Saturday when 1,000 miles west of the cape, Colman and Kuttel are in the running for the Cape Horn Navigation Prize as Cessna Citation rounded the cape just one hour and 25 minutes behind their projected routing schedule.

 

In the 15:00 GMT position poll on Wednesday, Cessna Citation was 69 miles south-east of Cape Horn, climbing north-east steeply as the gale approached. “The sea state is still well established, but the wind has moderated for now before building again significantly for a time,” says Colman who is already looking beyond Isla de los Estados. “Current routing is unequivocally around the east side of the Falklands,” predicts Colman of the obstacle positioned 330 miles down the track.

 

Meanwhile, 300 miles west of Cessna Citation on Wednesday afternoon in second place on Financial Crisis, the Cape Horn ETA of mid-evening GMT on Wednesday submitted by Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon became unachievable as the Italian-Spanish duo hove-to at 57S, south-west of the cape to avoid intercepting gale force winds sweeping up from Antarctica. Marco Nannini explained the decision on Tuesday evening: “After much debate, we decided it was simply too risky for us to carry on heading for such a dangerous rendezvous and have instead slowed down and we'll let the worst of the gale blow through,” he confirmed. Although Cessna Citation had the lead and the horsepower to attempt clearing Cape Horn, Nannini and Ramon were further west and handicapped by the loss of their main, masthead spinnaker. “We considered this option, but ruled it out as we didn't think we could make it in time,” Nannini explains.

 

His Spanish co-skipper was in total agreement: “Cape Horn may have the smell and aura of adventure and freedom, but it scares most experienced seamen,” points out Ramon. “Hundreds of boats have broken up and sunk here and it’s only because now it’s mainly racing boats that round the cape that the number isn’t even greater,” he adds. “The Race Director of the GOR, Josh Hall, has raced around Cape Horn three times and Nick Leggatt on Phesheya-Racing has been around the Horn five times and they both advised us in emails over the past couple of days that in the conditions we would face in the gale, there would be enormous, confused seas as we crossed close to the continental shelf.”

 

Early on Wednesday, Nannini and Ramon - carrying storm jib and four reefs in the main - reported that all was well on Financial Crisis and their skilled and text book heaving-to manoeuvre was working comfortably in 35-45 knots and gusts up to 55 knots. By 13:00 GMT, the low pressure was on the move, heading for Cape Horn, centred south-east of the Italian-Spanish Class40 and Nannini and Ramon were back in the game, tucking into the 30-knot south-westerlies on the back of the system. At 15:00, Financial Crisis was averaging just under eight knots with 280 miles remaining to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate.

 

As Cessna Citation approaches the Southern Ocean’s exit door and Financial Crisis piles on to Cape Horn, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire are picking their way across the top of a high-pressure system with Phesheya-Racing and at 15:00 GMT on Wednesday, the South African duo had slowed to under three knots as the light airs struck at 58S with 860 miles to Cape Horn.

[Guest]

Having crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate at 06:25 GMT on Wednesday at the head of the Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel made a steep climb north-east out of the Southern Ocean with Class40 Cessna Citation. Leaving Cape San Juan at the eastern end of Isla de Los Estados to port almost 24 hours after rounding Cape Horn, Colman and Kuttel entered the South Atlantic on Thursday morning chased by the low pressure system they had outpaced at Cape Horn.

 

 

On Wednesday morning, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon, south-west of Cape Horn in second place on Financial Crisis, were underway again while the low pressure system moved ahead of them. As the Italian-Spanish duo pushed east, Marco Nannini was satisfied with the decision to hove-to: “I think we found the right balance,” he confirmed late on Wednesday night. “We had sustained winds of 40-45 knots with occasional gusts into the 50-55 range, in line with what we expected,” says Nannini. “On two occasions we were hit by hailstone squalls and the only piece of advice I can leave you with is: Don’t look at a hailstone storm!” he advises. “The small pellets of ice shot into your eyeballs at nearly 100 kilometres an hour and really hurt!”

 

 

Nannini and Ramon pursued the low pressure system towards Cape Horn, gradually increasing sail. “We started sailing again during the night and when things seemed to have calmed down further, we changed from the smallest of sails, the storm jib, to the larger staysail and increased the area of the mainsail by removing the 4th reef and moving up to 3rd reef,” he reported as Financial Crisis barrelled east averaging between nine and ten knots. “We are surfing down the waves in 30-35 gusting 45 knots of wind and a rather messy residual sea which hopefully will start to ease over the next 12 hours.”

 

 

The gale peaked at Cape Horn at around 03:00 GMT on Thursday with Financial Crisis keeping up the pace 190 miles to the south-west as Nannini began to plot for another comeback. With the low pressure moving east from the cape and delivering strong WSW winds to Colman and Kuttel in the open water of the South Atlantic, the Italian skipper saw an opportunity. “Interestingly, the strong winds will force them to go east of the Falklands,” reasons Nannini as the alternative would mean Cessna Citation beating into 30+ knots. “This adds about 100 miles to their course, leaving us with a chance of cutting to the inside and perhaps closing some of the gap?”

 

 

At 12:00 GMT on Thursday, Cessna Citation was 114 miles south of the Falkland Islands holding a lead of 329 miles over Financial Crisis with just 93 miles remaining to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate for Nannini and Ramon.

 

 

Meanwhile, 640 miles west of Financial Crisis, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire broke out of the light airs on Wednesday afternoon as the high pressure barrier ahead of them tracked to the north-east and Phesheya-Racing continued to drop down into the Southern Ocean reaching 58 degrees 39S at midday on Thursday. “With the air temperature dipping below three degrees last night, the autopilot once again showed us why it is our best friend!” says Leggatt as the two South Africans shelter from the frigid conditions inside their Class40. “Even though we are onto a jury rigged version of our back-up pilot after problems with both pilots earlier in the leg, this one is still gamely working away through all sorts of conditions,” he confirms.

 

 

With around 700 miles remaining to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate, weather models suggest light northerly breeze for the South Africans for around three days as the high pressure embeds off the western coast of Chile. With complex conditions ahead, the South Africans have entered their Cape Horn ETA bid for the Cape Horn Navigation Prize at 02:18 GMT on Monday 27 February.

 

 

While Nick Leggatt will celebrate his sixth rounding of the cape, it will be a landmark for Phillippa Hutton-Squire: “Phillippa is looking forward to being the first South African woman to skipper a racing boat around Cape Horn,” says Leggatt. “But the honour of being the first South African woman to race around Cape Horn in a round-the-world race, we believe, should go to Lynnath Beckley, who raced aboard EF Language in the Whitbread Race, unless anybody knows any differently?”

[Guest]

coleman must be really having the ride of his life around the horn.........

what an adventure...in about 2 days they will be in the thick of it again........new storm brewing and rolling off the coast !!