Velux 5 Oceans - Alone-Round the World Yacht Race www.velux5oceans.com - Übersicht Saturday 2nd December, 2006 Golding and thomson arrive in cape town Heroic welcome after traumatic Southern Ocean ordeal * Mike Golding (GBR) and Alex Thomson (GBR) both aboard ECOVER arrive safely in Cape Town, South Africa * Thomson relived to be back on dry land for first time since abandoning HUGO BOSS * Golding to consider the options for his immediate future in the VELUX 5 OCEANS race * Sir Robin Knox-Johnston suffering from electricity shortages in the eastern hemisphere * Bernard Stamm (SUI) climbed his mast to fix another halyard problem after 70 knot squall Bei diesem Anblick wird seine Mutter weinen Foto: www.w-w-i.com/velux_5_oceans One week after their dramatic ordeal in the Southern Ocean, British solo skippers, Alex Thomson and Mike Golding, finally arrived into Cape Town, South Africa last night. ECOVER docked around 18.30 GMT on 1st December with two very exhausted, very relieved sailors onboard. The start of the VELUX 5 OCEANS yacht race in Spain and the horrific storms of the first night, 41 days ago, now seem but a distant memory for these two sailors. It is time for Golding make a decision about ECOVER's future in the VELUX 5 OCEANS race, while Alex returns home to England. Nine days have now passed since Thomson, the youngest skipper in the race, suffered severe keel failure whilst in a close third place in the world's toughest solo round-the-world yacht race. Forced to make the crushing decision to abandon his yacht HUGO BOSS, he took to a life raft and was rescued heroically by fellow sailor Mike Golding, who subsequently suffered a broken mast. Thrown into a very unusual situation together, the two solo sailors have undoubtedly formed a special bond. Having battled 1000 nautical miles to South Africa under vastly reduced sail, they could not have been happier to set foot on dry land. Meanwhile, at the head of the fleet and 700 miles from Fremantle, Western Australia, race leader Bernard Stamm has endured a sleepless night. In squalls of up to 70 knots, similar to that striking the fleet during the first week of the VELUX 5 OCEANS race, Stamm has struggled yet again with his halyard system and was forced to climb his mast once more. Sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston crossed the Greenwich Meridian into the Eastern Hemispere at 1852 GMT on 1st December in Latitude 42 11.8 South. Knox-Johnston is currently considering whether he may have to make an emergency stop in the Kerguelen Islands, to address his ongoing power and autopilot issues. Mike Golding, ECOVER: "I am just looking forward to a beer, a shower, a meal and more beer. In that order. I would not have it any other way. It hasn't worked out the way we planned it, but all of that is put into perspective. HUGO BOSS is gone and Alex is not. To some extent maybe that is the reason I was here. If that is the only reason I was in this race then that is good enough for me. I am very proud of what I did. Do I feel like a hero? No, Alex would have done the same for me. I know that single handed sailors, or indeed sailors, anyone who puts to see, there is a mutual bond. There will be a different relationship between us now. There is no onus on him or me for that to be so. Very early on I said to Alex 'You are not a passenger and you are not crew. Do what you feel comfortable with. Treat everything on board as if it were your own'. He is very disappointed to lose HUGO BOSS, much more than I think he is freely prepared to admit. To damage a boat badly is hard for a skipper, but to lose one is devastating. It is like losing a member of the family." "I'm missing the race already. I enjoy it. Just prior to the rescue we were having some of the most amazing sailing, stressful but extraordinary. I am lucky to have great sponsor to support me to do remarkable events. I don't see it as something you dip into. It's a vocation, not a job, a way of life. We have had success as well as our problems. But I think that when you do as much of this as I have, then problems are inevitable. I think that if you roll with the punches and adapt to change you move forward." "You can't get fed up with the Southern Ocean. It is not there to get fed up with. You could easily get fed up with the cruel nature of the sport, but it is actually the one area of my life that perhaps I am quite optimistic about, something I am able to convince myself every time that we'll be able to avoid next time." Alex Thomson, HUGO BOSS: "Mike has been absolutely brilliant and I am hugely grateful to him for everything he has done," said Thomson on arrival in Cape Town. "We were both looking forward to a few beers last night and it was great to sink my teeth into a cheeseburger after six weeks of freeze-dried food. It has been a long week with an awful lot to take in and I am looking forward to starting a normal life again. I need to come to terms with the fact that life is not what it was. There is a lot to sort out when I come home and I need to switch my focus to my future." Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE: "Now these contrary winds are beginning to raise a serious issue. I had fuel enough to get to Fremantle and keep my batteries charged on the basis of a voyage of 55 days at sea. Currently I have been at sea 34 days since Corunna, about ten days longer than expected thanks to adverse wind conditions, and if these conditions continue I am not going to get to Fremantle before I run out, and that means no electricity which means no autopilot. There is no point in heading towards South Africa as we have strong northerlies due in a couple of days, so Kerguelan Island, where the French have a small research station is probably my best bet." Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT: "A cold front came through last night and there was a lot of wind. The maximum was 70 knots and it averaged over 45 knots for about 12 hours. Now it has dropped. When I wanted to launch the last reef, I realised that the rest of the halyard which broke yesterday tied itself in a knot with the indexsail halyard. I had to climb this bloody mast again to cut the rest of the halyard free." Yacht Skipper Latitude Longitude Course (°) Speed (knot) DTL (nautical miles) DTF (nautical miles) Dist - last Pos (nautical miles) Dist - 24h (nautical miles) Average course - last pos (°) VMG - 24h (knots) 1 Cheminees Poujoulat Bernard Stamm 40° 24.20 S 105° 00.24 E 52 18.3 722 80.5 345.6 53 14.4 2 Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 42° 59.84 S 085° 54.48 E 96 14 869 1555 61 360 70 15 3 Ecover Mike Golding 33° 54.19 S 018° 25.35 E 3995 4716 0 58.4 0 -2.1 4 SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 43° 25.76 S 001° 06.84 E 90 9.3 4313 5090 39 162.8 94 5.38 5 A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton 44° 21.68 S 003° 09.20 W 80 12.2 4419 5270 44.8 204.6 88 7.99 6 PAKEA Unai Basurko 31° 00.60 S 000° 50.12 E 64 9.4 4806 5666 47 191.5 77 1.63 - END - Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE