| Velux 5 Oceans: Stamm’s Cheminées Poujoulat extends lead |
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| Wednesday, 15 November 2006 | |
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Event media: Cheminées Poujoulat is charging south-east at an impressive speed, with Bernard Stamm extending his lead to more than 500 miles over Ecover this morning. Stamm was clocked at 15.0 knots compared with Mike Golding's 9.4 knots so we can expect to see the Swiss sailor build even further on his lead. This appears to be working out exactly as Golding had feared, with the high pressure contributing to Stamm's lead. Koji Shiraishi sits around 140 miles behind Ecover and he has been finding the going tough aboard Spirit of Yukoh. "The boat has been shaken violently as the waves have grown in size," said Koji. "Last night the headwinds hit a max of 30 knots. Thankfully since the afternoon the wind has settled down, although choosing the right course for my boat is becoming more difficult. It looks like both we and Ecover are about to head directly into the centre of the high pressure to the south. How I'm going to negotiate this high pressure will be the challenge. "Behind us, or more accurately to the west of us, Hugo Boss looks like he's foreseen this and is taking the long route around the pressure system to slingshot him through. Equally Bernard is racing ahead. I'm stuck in the middle somewhat and finding a solution will be difficult. I may have to face a pocket of no wind and the boat may even come to a stop. Judging the speed at which the pressure system is going to move on is the challenge. Since the boat has been punching through the waves, I'm starting to get a headache. It doesn't help the thinking process. I really hope there are going to be some tailwinds soon!" Other sailors continue to forecast good things for Alex Thomson way out to the west, although he is clocked at more than 1,000 miles behind Stamm this morning. However, this figure is somewhat misleading as this is distance to leader as opposed to distance remaining on the race track to Fremantle. The separation to Stamm might be enormous, but at least Thomson is the furthest south of any of the fleet. Whether or not the more favourable wind direction that he is experiencing will make up for the extra distance to be sailed around the west side of the high, that still remains to be seen. Slowest speed this morning was recorded at 2.3 knots aboard Saga Insurance, perhaps an indication that things are still not fixed aboard Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's boat. The nautical knight came up with some sobering statistics yesterday as he worked on his mainsail batten problems. "I have some 8,500 miles to go to Fremantle. My average speed since the start is pretty close to Suhaili's, [the small yacht in which he won the first ever singlehanded round-the-world race back in 1968, the Golden Globe] but let's be positive and assume it will improve. "At 200 miles a day, 8 knots, I'll arrive in Freo on the 23rd December. If we can improve on that, and it should be possible once in the Southern Ocean, then say an average of 10 knots will get me to Freo on the 17th December. Either way I miss the test match which is an utter tragedy." To Sir Robin's mind, the current situation is just not cricket. At least he remains ahead of his chasing rivals, although Graham Dalton and Unai Basurko are drawing ever closer. A real battle is ensuing between these three, and it will be a battle to avoid coming last into Fremantle. 05:32 UTC 15/11/06 Velux 5 Oceans race positions Position Yacht Skipper Latitude Longitude Crs Spd DTF/L 1 Cheminees Poujoulat Bernard Stamm 31° 06.44 S 011° 42.44 W 156 15.0 6008 2 Ecover Mike Golding 29° 44.28 S 021° 30.20 W 133 9.4 514 3 Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi 28° 58.36 S 024° 11.04 W 79 8.0 661 4 Hugo Boss Alex Thomson 31° 51.68 S 031° 17.80 W 204 10.3 1003 5 SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 02° 55.48 N 026° 59.76 W 203 2.3 2224 6 A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton 06° 32.44 N 025° 30.52 W 167 9.4 2398 7 PAKEA Unai Basurko 08° 26.96 N 023° 13.40 W 186 10.4 2468 Velux 5 Oceans album |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 November 2006 ) |
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