Sea, Sail & Surf newsAround Alone • Leg 4
Line honours for Stamm in Salvador de Bahia
lundi 10 mars 2003 –
It was a bittersweet victory for Dubois, who had led the war on the water after Stamm made his enforced stop in the Falklands for 22 hours, until yesterday morning. In Stamm’s words : "Well, normally on pure boatspeed I could not overtake Thierry, but he made one error by going inshore the last two days, so he lost the wind." Thwarted of taking line honors, Dubois does however take victory in the leg because Stamm will be given a 48-hour penalty for his stop to repair the broken keelboard. Moreover, the steady and somewhat cautious Dubois did arrive with his boat in pristine condition, which will give him an advantage over Stamm, who has had to call in extra shore crew to fix up the boat for the final leg.
On being asked how he felt after the damage to the keel lost him his lead, Stamm remarked : "Forget the frustration of the broken keel, stopping for 22 hours and getting a penalty - the last 3 days with no wind and insufferable heat were the worst to endure, it was like being in prison !" Dubois added : "Hell is better - I assure you !" So after an intense week of soaring temperatures on the water and inside the boats, both skippers arrived with storm clouds overhead but still received a true Brazilian welcome at the CENAB (Centro Nautico de Bahia), which included fireworks, fruit and of course, caipirinhas.
Both are now waiting intently for the arrival of Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali and Emma Richards on Pindar with mixed feelings. Dubois is hoping they speed up and push Bobst Group - Armor lux into fourth place, while Stamm, of course, is hoping that they will slow down and allow him to come second for the leg : "It is still possible..." he believes. At the last poll Emma and Simone had slowed right up to around 5 knots boatspeed, respectively 442 and 562 miles from the finish. It looks very difficult for Emma to arrive inside 48 hours and for Simone to come in second place.
Update on Derek Hatfield after the dismasting of his Open 40 Spirit of Canada at Cape Horn : listen to the compelling 5-part audio interview with Derek about his experiences of the boat pitch-poling and doing a 360 whilst he was on deck at the masthead in 80 knots of wind at Cape Horn ?you might say he was lucky to be alive. Since this incident, Derek has made port in Ushuaia and met his shore team, together assessing the options to keep him in the race. Fortunately, help has been flooding in for Hatfield, including offers of replacement rigs and financial donations from around the world.
POSITIONS AT 1400GMT 10th MARCH 2003
Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF
1 Solidaires 13 13.430 S, 38 35.570 W, 75.00 nm, 9.37 kt, 11 °T, 15.79 nm
2 Tiscali 20 18.430 S, 39 20.280 W, 46.41 nm, 5.81 kt, 52 °T, 442.66 nm
3 Pindar 22 15.240 S, 39 50.140 W, 29.38 nm, 3.67 kt, 29 °T, 562.02 nm
4 Ocean Planet 39 43.460 S, 45 04.030 W, 53.72 nm, 6.71 kt, 345 °T, 1648.39 nm
5 Hexagon 42 45.360 S, 65 00.420 W, 0.00 nm, 0.00 kt, 0 °T, 2342.68 nm
Class 2
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF
1 Tommy Hilfiger 24 50.240 S, 40 40.520 W, 60.68 nm, 7.58 kt, 350 °T, 734.83 nm
2 Everest Horizontal 39 59.260 S, 45 31.450 W, 25.53 nm, 3.19 kt, 8 °T, 1670.01 nm
3 Spirit of yukoh 40 48.430 S, 46 00.400 W, 26.58 nm, 3.32 kt, 71 °T, 1723.69 nm
4 BTC Velocity 51 12.380 S, 53 51.450 W, 66.18 nm, 8.26 kt, 67 °T, 2425.24 nm
5 Spirit of Canada 54 49.160 S, 68 14.210 W, 0.00 nm, 0.00 kt, 0 °T, 2907.03 nm
Dans la même rubrique
Around Alone • Leg 4 : Spirit of Canada dismasts off Cape Horn
Around Alone • Leg 4 : Graham Dalton is motoring towards Mar del Plata
Around Alone • Leg 4 : Stamm restarts after a 22 hours long pit-stop in the Falklands
Around Alone • Leg 4 : Dubois takes the lead when Stamm stops in the Falklands
