[source: Global Ocean Race, Oliver Dewar]
The first week of Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 3 has been the most
demanding of the entire circumnavigation so far with strong conditions for
the five double handed Class40s from within hours of the start in
Wellington, New Zealand, on Sunday 29 January.
Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel led the fleet in to Cook Strait from the
shelter of Wellington Harbour with Cessna Citation right into
30-knot headwinds and big seas forcing the fleet to reef for the first
night at sea. As light faded, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron took pole
position with Campagne de France as Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon
split from the fleet and took Financial Crisis on a flyer south
parallel to the coast of South Island.
As the main pack of the fleet dropped south-east leaving Chatham Island
to port, the leadership changed constantly and the speeds increased with
Ross and Campbell Field on Buckley Systems delivering the highest
average of 14 knots with Campagne de France, Cessna Citation
and the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire with
Phesheya-Racing all polling averages of 13+ knots.
By Wednesday, Financial Crisis had re-joined the group as the
fleet prepared for strong south-easterly headwinds with Buckley
Systems leading and 20 miles separating the front three boats with
Campagne de France furthest south a 49 degrees. Beating into a Force
8-9 gale with the boats hurled through immense seas took its toll and on
Thursday evening at 48S, Ross and Campbell Field – leading the fleet
on Buckley Systems – and Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on
the Franco-British entry, Campagne de France in second place,
abruptly turned north. Initially this was thought to be a move to avoid
40-50-knot headwinds, but injury and gear damage on Buckley Systems
had forced the Fields to head for port in Auckland, 1,000 miles to the
west, with Mabire and Merron making the same call.
For the complete update, click
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment