They left Cape Town 6 days ago and are experiencing navigation in the Southern Ocean towards Auckland. 200 miles already separate the first 10 sailboats. Pen Duick VI, Spirit of Helsinki, Translated 9 and Maiden are at the top of the leaderboard, as was the case for most of the first stage.
Sterna SA (42), forced to delay its departure to carry out repairs on their Swan 53 after discovering a crack behind the connection of their mule screw a few hours before showing up on the starting line, must catch up. Finally, just before the start, skipper Rufus Brand and his crew were more than impatient to get back into the race. ” It’s frustrating, but we knew that when we arrived in Cape Town we might not make the start given the amount of work we had to do. Yesterday was very hard mentally. We thought we could leave, but in the end things took longer and we couldn’t rush. Now there is nothing stopping us from catching up with the fleet. We are all very excited to go. We are still in the race, it’s a small setback in time. In a race that can last 180 days in total, two days is nothing. “
The American boat Godspeed arrived in Cape Town after 58 days of racing and 3 days after the start of Leg 2. It was an extremely emotional reunion for the families of the popular Skeleton Crew. They have become OGR favorites, not necessarily in terms of rankings, but for their spirit, their determination and their humor. They traveled the entire leg from the UK with seven tusks hanging from the transom, in their unique hands-on style. This non-profit organization, whose mission is to provide sailing therapy to military members and veterans, has made a strong impression on the rest of the fleet. So much so that crews who left before Godspeed arrived left good luck cards and gifts (mostly beer) to wish them good luck for Leg 2.
Meanwhile, the crew of the Swan 57, Explorer, who arrived a day before the start of Leg 2 on November 5, carried out extensive maintenance work on board. They worked on the standing rigging, the mullet fixings, shortened the forestay and inner stay, tuned the entire rigging to improve upwind performance, and replaced much of the running rigging. They carried out repairs on two sails, including finding a way to fix the broken batten car system on the mainsail that will withstand the Southern Ocean, and shortening and repairing the genoa. Electrical components damaged by water in the first stage were replaced, as were the generator and bilge pumps. The four winch handles, which fell overboard, were also recovered? and the six buckets lost during the first stage. Explorer Captain Mark Sinclair, aka Captain Coconut, has revealed what everyone wants to know. Why were they so slow? “ We took the classic route which involves going around the bottom of the South Atlantic high rather than following the eastern side of the South Atlantic. On this occasion it turned out not to be the best choice compared to those who took the more direct route. Under normal conditions this route has the advantage of being opposite the wind, so it is longer but it should be faster. We had a longer route but not a faster one. But who wants to sail 7,000 miles upwind? It’s a lot more fun to go to the other side and follow the classic route,” explains the skipper of the Golden Globe Race, who was not known for his speed in this race either!
Former Whitbread entrants Neptune are back racing after diverting to Port Elizabeth to investigate a possible problem with their steering helm and tiller. They contacted OGR Race Control on Wednesday to clarify the situation and it was established that they did not require outside assistance with the necessary maintenance. Port Elizabeth, a commercial port, restricts anchoring so the 60-foot aluminum sloop docked to carry out repairs. No one went ashore and it was confirmed that the communications bag seals were not compromised and they did not receive outside assistance. An assessment of the situation will be carried out by the OGR and a time penalty may be applied for port entry, a stipulation of the NOR.
“Three successive speed records today – 17.9 knots (Seb), 18 knots (Nolwen) and 19 knots (Gaby). The caravan is on the rise,” reports Triana FR (66) in one of its tweets. They impressed everyone on the first leg with their consistent speed aboard the Swan 53, winning first place in the Adventure class. Meanwhile, Maiden announced a “New Top Speed – KATE!!!! 20.6KTS!!!!!!!”
Big waves and whales for the Evrika crew who are ready to pick up speed after a slow first leg. Evrika’s crew, aboard the stunning 65ft Swan, also reflected on the start of the race and the phenomenal scenes that unfolded in Table Bay when the South African Navy ship SAS King Sekhukhune 1 and the frigate Floréal of the French navy gave the signal for the start of stage 2. “ The starting line was very exciting. We were pushed by Pen Duick VI and we were very close to the frigate Floréal. I hope someone had a camera. The views of the bay were also incredible. And then yesterday we had a competition between the whales to see who would do the best jump. It has all been extraordinary.
The first Southern Ocean storm could approach the fleet in the coming days, with the first sailing vessels expected to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand from the second week of December.
This article is originally published on courseaularge.com
