All three OCD Open 60’s are now around Cape Horn. |
| Monday, 28 January 2008 |
| Educación sin Fronteras (ex Kingfisher) has become just the second boat in the Barcelona World Race to round Cape Horn without stopping since the start of the race on November 11. On Day 73, the tandem of Albert Bargués and Servane Escoffier, left the famed landmark to port and raced into the Atlantic Ocean.
On rounding Cape Horn Servane commented: "We just passed Cape Horn so we are very, very happy and it was very beautiful. We passed very close to the Cape and it was so impressive. We had good wind, and sun and the boat surfing on the waves as we went past. It was so cool.
"I wish every sailor who wants to do it to have this experience at least once. It's amazing. Sometimes you ask why you are here because it's so hard. Sometimes with the wind and the cold you ask yourself why am I doing this but after Cape Horn, you know why. Maybe tomorrow, I'll say 'no more'. But today, at Cape Horn, we're very happy."
The Pacific part of the southern ocean has been a good one for the crew of Educación sin Fronteras who have taken advantage of slow speeds from the leaders to gain 400 miles and pull within 2900 miles of the leading boat. That being said, just under 7000 miles still remain before they reach the finishing line off Barcelona – there’s still along way for this pair to go.
Temenos II continues its hard fought duel with the surging Mutua Madrileña (ex Ecover 2), who draw yet closer over the past 24 hours. This pair are now separated by just 56 miles in the battle for third place. And the Spanish duo on board Mutua Madrileña aren’t easing off their challenge. This fight looks set to continue all the way to the doldrums and probably beyond.
Javier Sanso on Mutua Madrileña : "I think we are unconsciously pushing - it is part of our character to be very competitive. With a boat so close it is hard for us to be conservative to the point that it gets away from us. Yet we know that they are faster - there were moments when we could have pushed harder, we are not taking stupid risks. We are being careful because there are a lot of miles to do still and the boat is tired - not in the mast, but other parts of the boat and there is a lot of racing left. Especially in the trade winds and up towards the north Atlantic there will be a lot of close reaching and we are aware that the boat is going to suffer. We are not going to push to follow the other boat on speed because we don’t want breakage.
Aboard Temenos II there have been repeated squalls virtually the whole time since yesterday evening and Michèle and Dominique have been forced to make a series of manœuvres in line with these. The fatigue is evident after most of the night spent on deck adjusting the sail area and the trim to the rhythm of the passage of these clouds. The weather activity is particularly intense off the Brazilian coast and in the space of a few days Michèle and Dominique are expecting to have to negotiate a front and some high pressure.For the time being, thanks to the influence of the clouds the monohull is still managing to make headway, though Michèle is expecting the boat to slow dramatically over the next few hours. All very different from the Southern Ocean sailing of only two weeks ago when the Swiss/French couple hit 35.3 knots on their Owen-Clarke steed !
“The skies are really very disturbed. We are surrounded by squalls. You can see them coming and it's all black on the water, the rain falling at 45°. One minute you end up upwind, the next you're downwind. Sometimes there is no wind and other times it's the very opposite of that with some almighty gusts. Each squall is different and as the clouds closes in on you, you soon see what it's going to be like. We’ve been making a number of manoeuvres and that's set to continue! The night has been fairly tiring. With the arrival of each squall we wake the other person up so as to be more effective and not lose ground. We were expecting this situation though and we got some good rest beforehand.
We're approaching the zone of calms situated in the front off Brazil so our pace will be slowed again soon. It’s a windless band of around sixty miles, which should take about 24 hours to cross. Each time we get a grib file, the passages are different, a little more to the East on one, a little more to the West on the second, so it’s difficult to grasp exactly what the best strategy is for us. We'll simply have to make northing and good speed so as to extract ourselves from this zone!”
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