6 February 2012
Text book boat preservation in the Southern Ocean
Throughout Sunday, thoughts of competitive racing were temporarily suspended for one of the Class40s in the Southern Ocean as the South African team on Phesheya-Racing was forced to heave-to in strong headwinds and confused seas. Furthest south at 48 degrees leading the trio, Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel missed the worst of the gale with Cessna Citation while Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon had already eased sheets and were barrelling south-east away from the storm on Financial Crisis as Phesheya-Racing rode out ferocious conditions and successfully preserved their boat.
By 22:00 GMT on Sunday, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire were in the teeth of the gale with Phesheya-Racing at 44S: “The wind is not too bad but the risk of hull or rig damage is significant if we attempt to keep to any reasonable course in these seas,” reported Leggatt as the team’s track on the GOR Race Viewer became sporadic and tripped alarm bells at GOR HQ. “So we figured it is simply more prudent to stop right here and ride it out.” On Sunday evening, Phesheya-Racing was battered by around 30 knots and short, very step seas churning and boiling due to the rapid wind shift from south-easterly to north-easterly and the future prospects looked increasingly grim. “The wind is currently near gale force, but the forecast from New Zealand is for gale force soon and the GRIB files are showing even more wind,” continued Leggatt.
Coincidentally, Nick Leggatt had been forced to heave-to in precisely the same area during his second circumnavigation on Tony Bullimore’s 105ft catamaran, Daedalus, in the 2005 Oryx Quest Round-The-World Race and he and Hutton-Squire pulled-off a text book manoeuvre under triple-reefed indexsail and staysail, lying at 35-40 degrees to the wind with the helm lashed to leeward, before dispensing with staysail entirely.
By mid-morning on Monday the gale had passed: “We’re finally underway again,” reported Phillippa Hutton-Squire in a brief email to the GOR Race Organisation. “Still directly upwind, but the wind suddenly dropped to 15 knots, as forecast, and the sea has moderated very quickly,” she adds. By 15:00 GMT on Monday, Phesheya-Racing was making just over six knots. “We’re well rested and ready to go again,” confirmed Hutton-Squire. “It is pitch dark and drizzling still, so we have started off a bit conservatively but at least we are sailing.”
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