1 February 2012
headwinds and a Roaring Forties hammering are on the way
As the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s dropped deeper south through the Pacific’s Roaring Forties led by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron with Campagne de France, the distance between the leading trio of boats compressed rapidly from 30 miles on Tuesday evening GMT, to just six miles on Wednesday morning.
By 11:00 GMT on Wednesday, Ross and Campbell Field – guarding their habitual position furthest south – took Buckley Systems into the lead at 48S with Mabire and Merron dropping back to third, 20 miles directly astern of the Fields with Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel holding second place to leeward on Cessna Citation.
Meanwhile, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis had re-joined the index pack, but kept north with the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire working south with Phesheya-Racing and recovering from sail damage: “Our high speed run yesterday came to an abrupt end soon after dark when the boat spun out of control at speed,” reports Nick Leggatt. “The bluQube A6 got wrapped around the forestay, causing a tear just above the tack. In the darkness we were lucky to retrieve the sail on the foredeck without too much fuss and then bundled it down below to start repairs immediately.”
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1 February 2012
Deeper south for the GOR Class40s
Speeds in the Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet rose dramatically throughout Tuesday as the double-handed Class40s dropped south below Chatham Island with the five boats reaching into the high latitudes on port in 25-30 knots of northerly wind. Having taken the lead early on Tuesday morning, Ross and Campbell Field hit the highest speed averages on their Tyker 40, Buckley Systems, polling 14 knots, while the chasing Class40s, Campagne de France with Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron and Cessna Citation with Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel consistently delivering 13+ knots.
The first generation Akilaria Phesheya-Racing pushing hard in fourth place also averaged over 13 knots on Tuesday – a GOR speed record for the South African team of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire – but dropped back to fifth place as Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon’s southern option taken shortly after the start of Leg 3 with Financial Crisis began to pay as the Italian-Spanish duo converged with the index pack and closed in on the leaders.
While the strong conditions in Cook Strait immediately following the start in Wellington and the demanding luxury of fast reaching has thrown the GOR teams straight into action, the fleet’s progress east is now threatened by a low pressure system currently north-east of the boats and forecast to head directly towards the fleet. With the prospect of encountering 30-45-knot southerlies spinning from the system’s western edge, the options of being pinned north reaching, or beating south into a Force 7-8 had little appeal.
On Buckley Systems, Ross and Campbell Field were first to blink at 16:00 GMT on Tuesday, gybing and dropping south, handing the lead to Mabire and Merron on Campagne de France with Colman and Kuttel moving up to second on Cessna Citation: “You would have seen our move,” wrote Ross Field in a brief email as the GOR’s Geovoile Race Tracker revealed the drop south. “Don't panic, we think we know what we’re doing - we are investing in the future,” he continued.
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