Conditions have been improving significantly at the front of the fleet in the Southern Ocean since two of the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s turned back to New Zealand on Thursday. Leg 3 from Wellington to Punta del Este, Uruguay has already packed a significant punch with headwinds reaching up to Force 9 pounding the double-handed fleet and forcing the two lead boats, Buckley Systems and Campagne de France, to head west. However, within 48 hours the environment in the Roaring Forties has begun to moderate.
Indeed, leading the fleet and furthest east, Conrad Colman and his South African co-skipper, Adrian Kuttel, ran into light airs during Friday evening GMT with their Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation and while Colman reports clear skies and sunshine at 47S, allowing the duo to dry clothes and gear in the cockpit of their Class40, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis in second and Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheaya-Racing in third have closed down the gap to the leaders as they remain in Force 6 headwinds.
For all the GOR teams the news of Ross and Campbell Fields’ decision to turn west followed by the same call made by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron has been a severe blow after racing together around half the planet. On Financial Crisis, the scenario still seems unreal: “If this was a movie, the last two days would have made for some nice drama on the high seas,” believes Marco Nannini. “Imagine the context: a fleet of racing boats headed for Cape Horn; a South Pacific gale battering the fleet; huge waves crashing against the boat through the night; the constant noise of halyards hitting the mast; leech lines flapping; autopilot ram overloaded; water sloshing in the bilges; the smell of your own boots turning your stomach inside out; wet, cold, miserable,” says Nannini, graphically constructing the storyboard for his forthcoming, big screen, offshore epic. “Then the satellite phone rings…no one has ever called us on the satellite phone!” For the complete update, click here.
A united GOR fleet as the Class40s head deeper into the Pacific
Conditions have been improving significantly at the front of the fleet in the Southern Ocean since two of the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s turned back to New Zealand on Thursday. Leg 3 from Wellington to Punta del Este, Uruguay has already packed a significant punch with headwinds reaching up to Force 9 pounding the double-handed fleet and forcing the two lead boats, Buckley Systems and Campagne de France, to head west. However, within 48 hours the environment in the Roaring Forties has begun to moderate.
Indeed, leading the fleet and furthest east, Conrad Colman and his South African co-skipper, Adrian Kuttel, ran into light airs during Friday evening GMT with their Akilaria RC2 Cessna Citation and while Colman reports clear skies and sunshine at 47S, allowing the duo to dry clothes and gear in the cockpit of their Class40, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis in second and Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheaya-Racing in third have closed down the gap to the leaders as they remain in Force 6 headwinds.
For all the GOR teams the news of Ross and Campbell Fields’ decision to turn west followed by the same call made by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron has been a severe blow after racing together around half the planet. On Financial Crisis, the scenario still seems unreal: “If this was a movie, the last two days would have made for some nice drama on the high seas,” believes Marco Nannini. “Imagine the context: a fleet of racing boats headed for Cape Horn; a South Pacific gale battering the fleet; huge waves crashing against the boat through the night; the constant noise of halyards hitting the mast; leech lines flapping; autopilot ram overloaded; water sloshing in the bilges; the smell of your own boots turning your stomach inside out; wet, cold, miserable,” says Nannini, graphically constructing the storyboard for his forthcoming, big screen, offshore epic. “Then the satellite phone rings…no one has ever called us on the satellite phone!”