GOR Updates

[Guest]

After 27 days at sea in Leg 3 of the Global Ocean Race (GOR), the trio of boats still racing are split between the South Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. At midday GMT on Saturday, fleet leaders Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel are 119 miles off the coast of Patagonia with Cessna Citation making good pace towards the finish having broken through light headwinds. Holding second place, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon cut the corner with Financial Crisis emerging from Le Maire Strait at 23:00 GMT on Friday, leaving the Southern Ocean just before nightfall in the South Atlantic.

 

South-west of Cape Horn at 58S, the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing have tapped into following breeze in the semi-static, Southern Ocean high pressure system that has dogged their passage to the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate, but are making good progress: “The barometer has been absolutely flat on about 1024mb for over 48 hours, maybe even 72 hours now,” reported Nick Leggatt on Saturday morning. “The wind has gradually backed into the south as we have rounded the bottom of the high necessitating a gybe early this morning,” he continues. “In fact, as we skirt the south side of the high pressure the weather has been remarkably stable and yesterday evening we hoisted the A4 spinnaker.”

 

At 12:00 GMT on Saturday, Phehseya-Racing was averaging 8.8 knots with 355 miles remaining until crossing the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate. As Leggatt celebrated his birthday on Friday, Phesheya-Racing dropped to 59S – the deepest the South Africans have ventured into the Southern Ocean: “As a matter of interest, in terms of latitude we are only 120 miles north of Elephant Island, the scene of perhaps the most famous Antarctic survival story, where Sir Ernest Shackleton's crew sheltered for months while he took a small, wooden, open boat and some colleagues to seek help from the whaling station at South Georgia,” Leggatt explains.

 

The strangely benign conditions just north of Antarctica look set to continue for the near future: “Overnight we had some fog, but that cleared by the morning and we were left with the usual dreary grey Southern Ocean sky,” says Leggatt. “The wind has generally been very light, though we have had some periods with stronger gusts where we have made good speeds despite hooking a large raft of kelp around a rudder.”

 

With the South African team’s Cape Horn ETA bid for the Navigation Prize standing at 02:18 GMT on Monday, the confused conditions ahead remain a handicap: “We’re still not completely clear of the high pressure, though we are now reaching quite fast in a southerly breeze,” continues Leggatt. “We still anticipate some variability in the wind tomorrow before it swings back to the west ahead of an approaching cold front that should take us the rest of the way to Cape Horn.”

 

Meanwhile, 560 miles to the north-east, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon had emerged from Le Maire Strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de Los Estados spending four hours in the 16-mile long channel and keeping to the mainland shore: “Sighting land was quite special,” says Nannini. “These are stretches of land you only get to read about in books and that I will probably never see again unless I do another yacht race around the world!” he adds of the extraordinary backdrop after four weeks at sea without landfall. “The steep cliffs of Tierra del Fuego are snow-capped even now, in summer, and everything looks quite wild and barren,” explains the Italian skipper. “The strait has a bit of a reputation for its strong currents and overfalls, so much so that most yachts racing up this way tend to pass to the outside and east of the Isla De Los Estatos, but we figured we had good weather and could do with some sightseeing after so many days with just water around us,” he adds.

 

Tide and current data for the strait is patchy and hard to find, but Nannini and Ramon got lucky: “The current increased steadily until it reached nearly five knots,” continues Nannini. “It’s a good job we didn't arrive at the wrong time of the day as the wind was so light that there's no way we could have gone against the flow,” he admits. “A few hours later we had been spat out into the Atlantic and as the current faded away, we drifted slowly for a while before a gentle wind started to fill the sails.” At midday GMT on Saturday, Financial Crisis was on port tack in light headwinds from the high pressure system centred above the Falkland Islands 200 miles to the north-east.

 

Leading the fleet 355 miles to the north of Financial Crisis and with 809 miles to the finish, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation had broken free of the light airs from the Falkland’s high pressure system and were making good speed towards the predicted strong, following breeze from the low pressure system to the north which may provide a fast finish for the Kiwi-South African duo.

[Guest]

There are mixed fortunes for the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40 trio in the South Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. Leading the fleet towards the Leg 3 finish line in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Conrad Colman – who has just been made Seahorse Magazine’s Sailor of the Month – and his South African co-skipper, Adrian Kuttel, stayed in strong winds, but punishing seas, as they chased the low pressure eastwards into the South Atlantic with Cessna Citation, hanging onto the strong south-westerlies and attempting to avoid the light airs lurking in the system’s path.

 

West of the Falkland Islands by 150 miles in second place, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis have sailed straight into strong headwinds west of the Falklands encountering hellish conditions and frustratingly slow progress. South-west of Cape Horn, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire finally broke free of un-readable weather conditions on Phesheya-Racing, passing the Diego Ramirez Islands at the western entrance to Drake Passage and crossing the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate at 18:01:54 GMT, passing 13 miles south of the notorious cape.

 

For the South Africans on Phesheya-Racing, the confusing weather forecasts continued to bare no relation to reality throughout the weekend, but on Sunday night, progress began for Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire 100 miles south-west of Cape Horn and, by Monday morning, they passed the Diego Ramirez Islands, a remote Chilean territory marking the southern end of the submerged Andes mountain range at the western entrance to Drake Passage.

 

With their first sighting of land for 29 days, birdlife increased dramatically: “There were three or four types of Albatross being spotted in the last hour, along with Cape petrels, Storm-petrels and several other species,” says Leggatt of their passage passed the rocky outcrop. For Hutton-Squire, the sudden proximity of land following a month in the watery desert of the Southern Ocean was a revelation: “This is very exciting and a wonderful comfort-feeling that is hard to describe,” she says. “Being out in the middle of nowhere for so many days where you know that only a plane can drop supplies to you, but you can't be rescued is a strange feeling,” reveals Hutton-Squire. “It is fantastic to know that land and help are now close by.”

 

Later the same day, Phesheya-Racing crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate winning the GOR’s Cape Horn Navigation Award instituted by GOR Race Committee member, Alan Green, for submitting their predicted Cape Horn ETA to within an astonishing one minute and 54 seconds when 1,000 miles west of the longitude of the Horn. In a brief email to the GOR Race Organisation, Phillippa Hutton-Squire described the scene: “We've done it!” she wrote just minutes after rounding the cape. “Beautiful day! Temperature almost ten degrees, partly cloudy but with squalls laden with hail. Accompanied by Hourglass dolphins and Albatrosses. Cape Horn clearly visible 13 miles away.”

 

Following the rounding, Phesheya-Racing remained on port gybe and was heading north to take a closer look at the cape: “Should be great around sunset with the Horn behind us!” wrote Hutton-Squire before signing-off. With their incredibly accurate Cape Horn ETA prediction, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire have won free membership to the Royal Institute of Navigation in Kensington, London, and trophies awarded by Alan Green.

 

Meanwhile, for Nannini and Ramon, 500 miles NNE of Cape Horn, escaping the Southern Ocean and entering the South Atlantic was far from the experience they had expected: “I guess we all assumed that once we turned the corner from the Horn, everything was going to be easy,” suggests Marco Nannini. “I certainly did, so I was a little surprised when last night the wind piped up to a fierce 35-40 knots dead on the nose in a nasty chop and a mysterious two knots adverse current,” he reported late on Sunday. “The net result was 12 hours of very nasty sailing and very little progress.”

 

Hugo Ramon describes the atmosphere and conditions on Financial Crisis: “This has to be the most horrific period so far in the race,” says the 26 year-old Spaniard. “I’m in a really bad mood, I’m discouraged and I see no point and no end to this sadistic torture,” he adds. “I want to scream and shout, kick something and tear my hair out as I just can’t make sense of it.” Sailing parallel to Patagonia, 120 miles off the coast, the sea is relatively shallow and this has a dramatic effect on the wave pattern and shape in the recent 45-knots headwinds. “The distance between waves is minimal and they’re very steep, so crashing into these walls of water is horrendous,” Ramon continues. “So far, I’ve counted three seconds of free fall off a wave and when the boat lands with a smash, the rigging stretches and the keel vibrates.”

 

Nannini can see no improvement in the short term: “We totally missed the train with the weather,” he admits. “Cessna ahead of us hooked into very strong following winds propelling them at furious speeds towards the finish line and here we struggle to make much progress at all covering just about 100 miles per day in endless headwinds…. all rather disappointing.” At 18:00 GMT on Monday, Financial Crisis was averaging just over seven knots in continued headwinds. For Ramon, however, there has been one highlight in the past 24 hours: “It’s incredible that in these conditions the very smallest thing can bring immense pleasure,” he reports. “Going through our food supplies, I’ve just found a bag of Cheetos we bought in New Zealand,” confirms Ramon. “I tell you, this made me so happy that I nearly cried!”

 

Meanwhile at the front of the fleet, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel have 337 miles remaining to the finish line in Punta del Este with Cessna Citation, although the high speeds of the past 48 hours have ended as the low pressure system travels east into the Atlantic. “It feels a little like walking on solid ground again after marching on the moving carpet transporters in an airport,” reported Conrad Colman on Monday afternoon. “You stagger a little and then settle in to the slower pace of life,” he continues. “With 48 hours where the wind didn't drop below 30 knots and a solid 40 was a constant fact of life, having to trim to accelerate the boat rather than slow it down is a novel feeling.”

 

By Monday evening, Cessna Citation had slowed to below four-knot averages, but the ravages of the miles won in strong conditions were still fresh in the minds of the two crew. “We ended up in quite shallow water off the Argentine coast and this created massive waves very shortly after the gale began,” Colman recalls. “Sliding down these endless inclines with 45 knots at your back and a hole in the ocean ahead for hour after hour was exhilarating, up until the point where we had to dodge a fishing fleet with their nets down.”

 

With a good lead over Financial Crisis, Colman and Kuttel chose a sensible sail combination of two reefs and staysail as the storm built, however even this proved excessive: “We were still almost blown out of the water by a 50-knot gust that provided the motivation to put in yet another reef,” admits Colman. “Even so, we hit 24 knots of boatspeed coming down a wave and it would have been stupid to push harder with an established lead already in our pockets.”

 

Despite the dramatic reduction in speed, there are no complaints from Cessna Citation: “After such a manic rounding of the Horn and then working hard to catch, and then survive, the low pressure system, it’s nice to have a tranquil moment to reflect on the leg and the race to date while tootling along up the coast with the Code 0 up,” adds Colman. “I'll breathe out my sigh of relief in 300 miles, but for now it’s just a nice day to be on the water.”

[Guest]

Having rounded Cape Horn early evening GMT on Monday, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire have taken Phesheya-Racing through Le Maire Strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados joining Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis in the South Atlantic after 30 days in the Pacific Ocean’s high latitudes.

 

However, the final 1,300 miles from Cape Horn to the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 3 finish line in Punta del Este, Uruguay, are proving to be as challenging as the 5,000 miles in the Pacific for the trio of Class40s that continued racing from Wellington, New Zealand. At the head of the fleet, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel have experienced stop-start sailing with Cessna Citation as they close in on the coast of Argentina for the final 180 miles to the finish line on the northern shore of Rio de la Plata, while further south in second place, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis have been hammered by headwinds north-west of the Falkland Islands but, finally, the breeze has gone right.

 

On the South African Class40, Phesheya-Racing, rounding Cape Horn on Monday evening was a momentous occasion for Phillippa Hutton-Squire. While Nick Leggatt has now logged six passages around the cape, it was a debut rounding for Hutton-Squire: “We never thought we would make it when we were becalmed the last few days, but we pushed hard in the last 24 hours between the hail storms, snow and icy winds,” says the first South African female sailor to skipper a racing yacht around Cape Horn.

 

Leggatt and Hutton-Squire sighted Horn Island’s western peak from 27 miles to the south: “From here the excitement and happiness set in on board!” reports Hutton-Squire. As the sun began to set at 56S, Phesheya-Racing arrived three miles off the cape. “It’s a very jagged coastline with sheer cliffs and no trees,” she notes. “The birds had increased in numbers and the dolphins had come out to ride our bow.” However, the magic moment was interrupted as the satellite phone began to ring, the VHF suddenly crackled into life and the AIS warning light started to flash busily after a month with barely any shipping activity.

 

As Leggatt and Hutton-Squire noted the position and course of a large cruise liner packed with adventure tourists rounding the cape, the Chilean Navy lighthouse keeper on Horn Island contacted the South Africans. “They asked us to alter course as we were in Chilean waters and wanted to know where we were going,” explains Hutton-Squire. As Phesheya-Racing cracked off heading north-east and close to Deceit Island, the duo opened a bottle of champagne they had failed to open during GOR Leg 2: “As it was blowing a gale on Christmas Day we delayed opening the bottle to New Year’s Eve, but another gale came through,” says Hutton-Squire. “We first made a toast to the boat for getting us this far, then poured a bit in the ocean for Neptune, then I made a toast to Nick, for if it wasn't for him, I would still be sitting at home,” she adds.

 

Leggatt and Hutton-Squire sailed downwind with their A4 and full main, entering Le Maire Strait shortly after 06:00 GMT on Tuesday, exiting the 16-mile wide channel four hours later and entering the South Atlantic: “Leaving the Pacific behind us is a big relief,” confirms Hutton-Squire, although reality has yet to set in. “Having crossed the Pacific to Cape Horn is a major achievement and I can't believe that I’ve made it,” she admits. “There have been some really hard times, difficult moments and generally it has been rather tough,” says the 28 year-old circumnavigator recalling the series of heaving-to manoeuvres in brutal conditions. “There were a couple of times that I thought we were going to have to bail out, but where would we go?” she wonders. “We had to come this way and we’ve made it across the Pacific as a team!”

 

Meanwhile, 470 miles to the north of Phesheya-Racing at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, the environment on Financial Crisis was improving: “Conditions have got a bit better and it’s just good enough to remove my drysuit briefly,” reported Hugo Ramon on Tuesday morning. “We’re still trying to squeeze every knot we can out of the very tired Financial Crisis and she gave us a couple of scares,” says the Spanish sailor. “First, a block exploded and a few seconds later, the primary autopilot suffered brain death, although a few hours later the unit suddenly woke up from its coma without any help from us,” says Ramon.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, Financial Crisis was 220 miles off the coast of Patagonia and the solitude of the Southern Ocean was over. “It’s pretty strange that having spent a month in the empty and remote latitudes of the Pacific, we’re now in a zone of intense commercial traffic,” Ramon continues. “It’s a bit like moving straight from a retirement home in Valldemossa and going directly to a rave in Magalluf!” he jokes. “There are a lot of massive supertankers in the area that are too big to go through the Panama Canal and have gone round Cape Horn, although I hope they don’t wear the traditional Cape Horn earring in their left ear as I somehow doubt the experience is the same on a massive ship.”

 

With 730 miles remaining to the finish line and around three to four days of racing in Leg 3 remaining, Hugo Ramon has been reflecting on the GOR: “It’s now beginning to sink in that this adventure is coming to an end,” says Ramon, who will leave Financial Crisis having completed Leg 3. “I know that I have to focus on finishing this adventure before starting a new one, but I can’t help thinking that I’d like to do this all over again, maybe even sailing solo.”

 

For the leading Class40, Cessna Citation, sailing 30 miles off the Argentine coast on Tuesday afternoon, the route across the 120-mile wide mouth of Rio de la Plata to the finish line in Punta del Este on the river’s northern shore is forecast to be blocked by a period of light winds giving a finish line ETA of Wednesday afternoon local time.

 

GOR leaderboard at 15:00 GMT 28/2/12:

 

1. Cessna Citation DTF 182 8.4kts

2. Financial Crisis DTL 551 6.8kts

3. Phesheya-Racing DTL 1032 8.5kts

[Guest]

After a slow final 24 hours crossing the 120-mile wide mouth of the Rio de la Plata, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel crossed the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 3 finish line in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in first place with their Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation at 18:37:30 local time on Wednesday 29 February (20:37:30 GMT). The 28 year-old Kiwi, Conrad Colman, and his 41 year-old South African co-skipper, Adrian Kuttel, took 31 days 18 hours 37 minutes and 30 seconds to complete the 6,300 mile course from Wellington, New Zealand, to Uruguay.

 

 

In south-easterly breeze, Colman and Kuttel sailed the final miles off the wind, crossing the finish line between the Puerto de Punta del Este harbour break water and an inflatable buoy laid just east of Isla Gorriti. Escorted into the marina by two RIBs from the Yacht Club Punta del Este (YCPE), Cessna Citation was welcomed by a crowd of well-wishers including the Commodore of the YCPE, Horacio Garcia Pastori and the club’s Secretary, Pablo Elola, who had both been in Palma at the start of GOR Leg 1.

 

 

Mooring stern-to, Colman and Kuttel were quick to step ashore onto solid land after a month at sea. “Sign me up for the next one!” said Colman when questioned if he’d repeat Leg 3. “It was fantastic sailing, just full-on,” added Kuttel as the champagne celebrations began.

 

 

Having led the fleet into Cook Strait after the start in Wellington, Colman and Kuttel retook the lead in Leg 3 after four days of racing, overhauling Ross and Campbell Field on Buckley Systems 1,000 miles south-east of Wellington as the fleet encountered strong headwinds in the Roaring Forties. With the Kiwi father-and-son team on Buckley Systems returning to New Zealand with a serious injury to Ross Field’s back and the simultaneous decision to turn back made by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France, Cessna Citation led the fleet east, crossing the mid-Pacific bluQube Scoring Gate eight days after taking pole position with a 125-mile lead over Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis.

 

 

Having cleared the mandatory waypoint, Cessna Citation dropped sharply south, but progress came to an abrupt halt at 54S as Colman and Kuttel ran straight into a high pressure ridge stretching across the Furious Fifties. “All the books make a big thing of gales at 60S, but there we were, sitting there twiddling our thumbs and looking stupid,” commented Colman of the dead calm they experienced.

 

 

With speeds dropping to below five knots and occasionally below one knot, Nannini and Ramon closed in, taking the lead briefly on the 18th day at sea. “Sitting on deck, freezing with Marco and Hugo charging down on us was just terrible,” admits Kuttel and for Colman, this was the low point of Leg 3: “We signed up for the worst,” he states. “But the most unpleasant bit wasn’t the gales, it was the calms.”

 

 

As the two Class40s picked up speed racing shoulder-to-shoulder through the Southern Ocean, both boats passed through an ice field identified by the GOR Race Organisation prior to the start of Leg 3 via satellite images with visual sightings of two ‘large-ish’ bergs at 56S by Colman and Kuttel. Colman recalls the moment the bergs were spotted: “We were in the middle of a sail change and Adrian said ‘There’s something over there’,” he explains. Kuttel is frank about the experience: “The icebergs added a couple of grey hairs,” he admits, scratching his new beard.

 

 

Racing below the latitude of Cape Horn, Financial Crisis took the lead again as the two boats approached 60S, but as reaching conditions arrived with southerly wind from Antarctica, Colman and Kuttel’s Akilaria RC2 Class40 took off towards the cape with the duo gambling on outrunning a deep low pressure system forecast to produce horrific conditions in the shallow water of Drake Passage south of Cape Horn. “There was some pressure there to get moving,” says Kuttel with immense understatement.

 

 

The Kiwi-South African duo pushed hard hitting average, sustained speeds between 12-14 knots, outpacing the gale and rounding Cape Horn early on 22 February, sailing through the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate 90 miles south of Horn Island after 24 days of racing with a 297-mile lead over Financial Crisis. With typical optimism, sailing out of sight of the cape isn’t an issue for Colman: “It gives me a good excuse to come back again and get closer,” he confirms.

 

 

With the gale rolling north-east and chasing Cessna Citation, Colman and Kuttel opted to avoid the narrow Le Maire Strait between mainland Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados, leaving the island to port and entering the South Atlantic. Leaving the Falkland Islands to starboard, Colman and Kuttel hooked into strong south-easterly wind spinning from the back of a low pressure system off Patagonia, making impressive speeds in big seas along the shallow water of the Latin American continental shelf and extending their lead over Financial Crisis to 500 miles as Nannini and Ramon were hammered by headwinds west of the Falklands and the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire approached Cape Horn on Phesheya-Racing.

 

 

For Conrad Colman, the Patagonian low pressure was clearly the toughest part of the voyage: “We got a proper blow when we buried into a depression on the way up here and we had 50 knots at times and sustained 40s with boat speeds in the mid-20s pretty regularly,” says the Kiwi skipper. “It’s astonishing because the boat just kept trucking and it was fairly easy,” he continues. “What a rocket ship this boat is,” says Colman of his Akilaria RC2. Kuttel agrees totally: “She takes a beating and then comes back for more,” he adds.

 

 

As the low pressure system moved east into the South Atlantic, Colman and Kuttel found light airs as they closed in on the coast of Argentina with a slow finish in weak headwinds as they crossed the mouth of Rio de la Plata during their final 24 hours at sea. As the two skippers headed off for a celebration at the YCPE courtesy of Tony Lawson and his Class40 racing campaign, Team Concise, Colman was clearly delighted with his second win of the circumnavigation: “Being first out of Wellington and being first here is really very special,” he adds.

 

 

Meanwhile, 515 miles south of the finish line in second place, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon are 100 miles off the coast of Patagonia with Financial Crisis, while Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire are 50 miles north-west of the Falkland Islands trailing Financial Crisis by 470 miles with Phesheya-Racing.

[Guest]

I could see someone like Scubash having to do this

 

 

As Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel crossed the Punta del Este finish line on Wednesday evening taking first place in Leg 3 with Class40 Cessna Citation, there was drama to the south off the Falkland Islands for Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing and some unusually civilised behaviour for Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon off the coast of Argentina with Financial Crisis.

 

While personnel from the GOR Race Organisation were preparing to board RIBs at the Yacht Club Punta del Este and head into the South Atlantic for a rendezvous with Cessna Citation, it was noted that the South African Class40, Phesheya-Racing was near-stationary and very close to the Jason Island archipelago just north-west of the Falkland Islands mid-evening GMT on Wednesday. Calls were immediately made to family members in Cape Town and to the Class40 to confirm that yacht’s status.

 

On Thursday morning, Phillippa Hutton-Squire described the scene: “We had sailed straight into a huge raft of kelp!” she confirmed by email. “The kelp was trailing out the back of the boat like the boat had grown a long pony tail.” The South Africans hove-to and began to clear the thick, slippery blades and stipes from the rudders and keel as Phesheya-Racing began to drift downwind towards the rocky shoreline of Jason West Cay: “I pulled the kelp up to Nick with the boat hook and then Nick pulled the kelp to the bow to free it from the keel,” continues Hutton-Squire. “Eventually, we couldn’t reach any more, so we changed tacks and by this time we were very close to Jason West Cay.”

 

With Phesheya-Racing changing tack, the density of the kelp raft increased. “The pieces of kelp were so big on this tack that we got the halyard around them to try and pull them off,” explains Hutton-Squire. We were very successful with two big chunks, but after three hours of this we were still entangled in kelp.” As Phesheya-Racing drifted closer to the rocks, an alternative method of kelp removal was needed fast. Leggatt quickly climbed into a full wetsuit with dive bottle and with and MOB retrieval line trailing behind the boat, he leapt into the freezing water.

 

Armed with a knife, Leggatt disappeared under the boat: “Moments later he popped up surrounded by kelp and shouted 'the keel is free!'” says Hutton-Squire. “Then he had to free the prop and do a quick check under the boat and he did exactly that and four minutes later Nick was back on board safely,” she confirms. By midnight GMT, Phesheya-Racing was moving again and at 15:00 GMT on Thursday, Leggatt and Hutton-Squire were 100 miles north of the Falklands averaging just under five knots in light headwinds and trailing Financial Crisis by 485 miles.

 

Throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the new race leaders, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon, sailed parallel to the coast of Patagonia 120 miles off the Valdés Peninsular in variable tail winds as the environment began to improve on board Financial Crisis. “The permanent cloud cover of the past few days has broken up during the night and I stood my watch in the cockpit as a magnificent sunrise brought summer to our world,” said Nannini as Financial Crisis approached 40S. “Since we left the icy weather of the high latitudes it has been remarkable to watch the temperature rise very fast as we sail north,” he notes. “Water temperature is now at nearly 20 degrees and today I'm sure we can get rid of all our base and mid-layers and finally sport some shorts and t-shirts.”

 

 

Handicapped by the loss of their A2 spinnaker, the final 400 miles to the finish line in Punta del Este are not looking simple: “Apart from this magnificent day, we can’t say we’ve been particularly lucky with the winds,” says Nannini. “First we had lots of headwinds and now that the wind has come round, we’re in light-ish airs without our masthead spinnaker and trying to do the best we can and creep forward a mile at a time toward this holy image of a proper, rare South American steak and the holiest of holy grails, a pint of beer.”

 

 

At 15:00 GMT, Financial Crisis was averaging seven knots in light, following breeze, but north-westerly headwinds blowing from the Argentine Pampas are forecast in the next 24 hours and Nannini predicts a Sunday arrival in Punta del Este: “The anticipation is high and I really, really want to get there, but whilst we are sailing I may as well enjoy the nice weather,” says Nannini. “It’s time for a shower on deck, some clean pants, a shave and all the things that can make me feel human again after all that time in the south.”

[Guest]

Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis are closing in on the Argentine coast with headwinds likely for the final miles to the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 3 finish line in Punta del Este while Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire have continued upwind conditions as they work north on Phesheya-Racing.

 

 

Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon are continuing to reach in light north-westerlies just 20 miles off the white-sand beaches of Argentina between Necochea and Mar del Plata as the temperature continues to climb on Financial Crisis: “It’s amazing to think that just a few days ago we were being whipped by hail and snow,” says Hugo Ramon. “I’ve now swapped my boots for deck shoes and the centrepiece of my wardrobe, my dry suit, has finally been exchanged for shorts so that my legs, which are a brilliant white and weak from lack of use, are shining fiercely in the bright sun.”

 

 

With 266 miles remaining to the Leg 3 finish line at 15:00 GMT on Friday, the proximity of Punta del Este has provoked contemplation on board Financial Crisis: “Reaching the finish line and re-entering civilisation is beginning to lose its appeal,” admits the 26 year-old Spaniard. “We know we will take second place and the voyage ends with the finish line, but it’s so much more than that,” he continues. However, with light headwinds forecast as the Italian-Spanish duo approach the 120-mile wide mouth of the Rio de la Plata, the Punta del Este ETA is pushed back to Sunday morning local.

 

 

Nonetheless, sitting braced against the carbon mast and looking back over the stern, Ramon drifted into a trance-like state. “I became almost hypnotised by watching the wake which is, sadly, no longer populated by albatrosses,” says Ramon. “But watching the ocean unroll behind the boat brought home where I’ve been and makes me even more determined to return,” he explains. “I now begin to understand Bernard Moitessier’s actions,” says Ramon of the French, single-handed, 1969 Golden Globe Race competitor. “After rounding Cape Horn in the first ever round-the-world race, instead of heading up through the Atlantic to Europe, he carried on across to the Indian Ocean for a second circumnavigation through the Southern Ocean,” recalls the Spaniard. “I now know that as soon as I reach land, the only thing for me to do is start work immediately on putting a racing project together so I can get back to the South as soon as possible.”

 

 

While Hugo Ramon struggles with finish line denial, the remaining 777 miles for the South African team of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing are looking increasingly tough. “The beating will continue until morale improves,” says Leggatt, quoting the military phrase on the morale-boosting value of punishment. “The latest weather forecast indicates that we can expect to beat against the wind and waves all the way to the finish line,” he says of the next five days at sea. “So morale is only likely to improve once we are safely tied to the dock in Punta del Este.”

 

Sailing 270 miles off Patagonia’s San Jorge Gulf on Friday afternoon, Nick Leggatt reported conditions 47S: “At the moment we’re thrashing our way into a real dog of a sea,” Leggatt reports. “It’s Ruff!...Ruff!...Ruff! and the wind and waves have got progressively worse with time.” The beating began on Wednesday as Phesheya-Racing cleared the Falkland Islands on port tack before switching onto starboard early on Thursday morning and heading towards the South American coast.

 

Despite trailing Nannini and Ramon by 511 miles, the South Africans have company as they climb through the South Atlantic. “Throughout last night, the entire horizon was ringed with a bright glow of light,” Leggatt reported on Friday morning. “These were the lights of a vast fleet of Chinese fishing boats employing deck lights so bright that we could see them clearly from over 50 miles away!” he explains.

 

Phesheya-Racing closed on the fishing boats at sun rise. “They were all anchored in groups of a dozen, or so, wherever the chart indicated an undersea canyon at least 200 metres deep,” notes Leggatt. “What are these boats after?” he asks. “Patagonian toothfish? Tuna? Why do they need such bright lights? Perhaps they are attracting squid? Do they only fish at night and remain at anchor during the day? Why do they anchor in such deep water? Answers on a postcard please...”

 

While the fishing mystery deepened at dawn, daylight also revealed that the bottom mainsail batten had broken: “Quite how it happened while sailing steadily upwind is a bit of a mystery,” says Leggatt. The duo hove-to to replace the batten from a selection of spare battens strapped to the guardrails and stanchions. “Normally we would try to do this while still sailing, but the sea state made it quite difficult and dangerous, so we opted to slow down instead.”