| Velux 5 Ocean: Stamm looks for wind as gap to Golding down to 252 miles |
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| Sunday, 12 November 2006 | |
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Event media: While Bernard Stamm on Cheminee Poujoulat may still be leading the VELUX 5 OCEANS, the only limits he has been pushing over the last 24 hours have been those of his patience. Ahead of him, tantalisingly close, are a band of favourable northwesterly winds that could project him at speed directly down towards the strong winds of the Southern Ocean. If he can only make it through to them it could once again put him into a situation every bit as race winning as when in the first few days of this leg he continued in the storm force winds when most of the other skippers were forced into port with gear damage. Timing is crucial as the forecast has this band of northwesterlies set to recede away from him. The outcome Stamm wants is for him to find this favourable wind, which then moves away with him before Mike Golding can reach them. This would see him launched south at speed, leaving those in his wake to wallow, the weather window closed in their face. Unfortunately at present all is not going according to plan. As Stamm wrote earlier this morning, as he was making just six knots in five knots of wind: "I'm stopped again. I'm sailing in a very light southerly wind. I hope it will not do the same as in the Doldrums. The system is still not in place. We'll see but it is frustrating." While Stamm has been pulling his hair out in the light conditions, those behind still enjoying the northeasterly trade winds have been happily making significant in-roads into his lead. Over the last 24 hours second placed Mike Golding on Ecover has recovered 55 miles, now 281 miles away from the race leader, while on Spirit of Yukoh, Japan's Kojiro Shiraishi has pulled back 19 miles and Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss 53 miles. Yesterday Mike Golding summed up his situation: "I'm surprised that I am still taking miles off Bernard, but the more I can close at the moment I am still pretty convinced he can get through the weather ahead easier, but the more we close the distance the less effect it has on us. So we shall see. The more we can do just now it might make quite a big difference further on." The British round the world veteran added: "We have been pushing hard between Code sails and kites and it is quite difficult conditions now because we have a big swell coming in from the south which is making it quite rolling and we keep powering up rather dramatically. I think I have found a good balance. It is quite remarkable really because on the track it looks like quite a straight line, but it is quite a shifty breeze." On board Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson has also been pouring over the weather ahead: "The route to the Southern Ocean is still not clear for me yet, although I suspect the choice may soon be made for me. There is a window in the current weather that makes the best route one that takes us towards Cape Town, but the further forward you are, the easier it is. Bernard will almost certainly get through, and there's a good chance Mike and Koji will make it too, but it is not so likely for me. I have been making good speeds however, and the faster I go the better it is. If I don't make it I will have to sail southwest away from the finish around an area of high pressure before getting into the Southern Ocean. This will mean many more miles for me, which would be rubbish, so I am hoping that the other option pays off. " Alex reported yesterday that he has spent the day getting some jobs done. "I managed to rip the Big Fella [his biggest spinnaker] - only a small tear but it took some time to find it and then get it dried and ready for repair. I had a good sort though my sail locker getting ready all the sails I will be needing over the next few days and also managing to get rid of the water that always seems to find its way to the bottom of the locker! "I have been having a few problems with the keel and so have been adjusting the settings with guidance from my team. It's not perfect yet but it's coming along well. Shaun (my trainer) will be pleased to read I have been able to get loads of sleep in during the day and night, which is great as it will be good to arrive in the Southern Ocean in a good physical shape." On board Spirit of Yukoh, Koji yesterday reported he too was having to deal with a few problems: "Last night the plotter has had no GPS signal input and so is not working. It seems to be temperamental as it is working again this morning. The problem is probably either down to when we accidentally dropped the boom on the antenna back in Bilbao (never really recommended) or the antenna's internal GPS microprocessor is maybe incorrectly calibrated. But it is not a big problem at the moment. We have been plotting our course using the Maxsea software in the meantime. "A bigger problem is that the Maxsea server used for getting GRIB files is down at the moment. So we have no updated weather files. We depend on these files a lot and this is a big issue now. This is the second time this has happened since the start. We can download up to a seven days out forecast but the need for latest updated files is very important. I hope that the Maxsea server is up and working again soon." [In fact while the MaxSea server has this issue the Race Committee have allowed competitors to download GRIBs from another provider, Commanders' Weather] "The wind has increased this morning and we are making some better speed now. But compared to Ecover and Hugo Boss we are still 1-2 knots off their pace. So everyday we are faced with a 20 or even 30 mile loss on them. It feels hard but we are a different generation and different design boat so there is not much we can do about this. But we will keep at our best pace." While the three leading skippers are thinking about the Southern Ocean ahead, the three still in the North Atlantic are contemplating the Doldrums. Having just passed 10degN latitude, on board SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is set to reach this famous but infuriating area of calms mixed with intermittent squalls any time soon. This morning he reported: "Progress has not been too bad over the last day considering the shortage of wind, and we continue south, although I would like to get a bit further west yet as there appear to be some calms creeping in from the east. Once again spent Saturday sheltering from the sun and avoiding the cabin. The temperature in the cockpit, where the wind is pleasantly warm, was fine. Spent a bit of time checking the wiring on the port autopilot and then poured sea water over myself to cool down, but I can see nothing wrong with the wiring so this is beyond me. In any case it [the autopilot] worked for 30 hours apart from switching itself onto standby a couple of times. I cannot play with it as that means switching off the starboard one and then who steers whilst I play? This is one for the manufacturers and I am not happy at being dependant on one autopilot all the way to Fremantle. If that went wrong as well we would be in a dangerous position in the Southern Ocean. "Will have to bring the batteries right up this morning in order to do a video call to ITN for their news this evening. That means that the cabin will be unbearable all morning again as the engine cools off afterwards. These boats are built to keep the water out and so not set up for good ventilation." Astern of Sir Robin, Graham Dalton and Unai Basurko are at present passing the Cape Verde islands off the west coast of Africa. Dalton is taking a route to the west of this archipelago while Basurko is to their east. Both are making good progress in the northeasterly trades. 10:20 UTC 12/11/06 Velux 5 Oceans race positions Position Yacht Skipper Latitude Longitude Crs Spd DTF/L 1 Cheminees Poujoulat Bernard Stamm 24° 22.04 S 018° 40.84 W 337 3.31 6762 2 Ecover Mike Golding 20° 32.16 S 022° 17.68 W 313 8.58 252 3 Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 19° 36.08 S 023° 23.36 W 302 7.06 321 4 Hugo Boss Alex Thomson 17° 45.84 S 027° 11.12 W 264 12.53 495 5 SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 08° 43.12 N 025° 01.52 W 252 10.04 2045 6 A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton 14° 04.76 N 026° 10.56 W 265 7.15 2359 7 PAKEA Unai Basurko 16° 24.64 N 021° 42.28 W 269 8.24 2540 Since the 05:32 UTC position update this morning Mike Golding has taken a further 29 miles out of race leader Bernard Stamm www.velux5oceans.com Velux 5 Oceans album |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 12 November 2006 ) |
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