Sail-World.com : Team Mowgli suffers boom damage as Chilean duo increase lead
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Team Mowgli suffers boom damage as Chilean duo increase lead |
It’s unclear whether Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz smelt some fresh south-westerly breeze, sensed it, or have a direct hotline to a weather psychic, but right after the midnight Monday GMT position poll, the Chilean duo put the helm down and turned left, gybing Desafio Cabo de Hornos and leaving Beluga Racer to head south-east.
After spending the majority of Monday within visual contact range with the German Class 40, Cubillos and Muñoz had squeezed a 3.4 mile lead – the limit of visibility at sea on a small boat close to the water's surface – and made their move. Instantly, a 28 mile defecit developed between the two boats due to the opposing headings, albeit with the bright red Chilean boat doubling the speed of Beluga Racer. However, Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme held their nerve on Beluga Racer, eventually following the gybe at 06:20 GMT this morning and now trail Desafio Cabo de Hornos by 3.9 miles (the same distance deficit held shortly before the Chilean’s slippery gybe north-east) with both boats averaging a little under four knots, 160 miles due east of the Chatham Islands in a windless quarter of the Pacific Ocean
For the Portimão Global Ocean Race skippers, the light winds are no real surprise. 'Our hunt for wind continues although we are expecting it to remain light for another couple of days,' commented Jeremy Salvesen on Team Mowgli late on Monday. 'Then we’ll find ourselves with too much wind later in the week,' he added with dry humour. Salvesen and co-skipper, David Thomson’s search for breeze has taken Team Mowgli approximately 90 miles to the north of the Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Beluga Racer and although the British boat trails the leaders by 41 miles in the 1520 GMT poll today, the conditions have been critical in the loss of ground since Team Mowgli dropped from pole position early on Monday.
'There is nothing more frustrating than light winds when sailing,' admits Salvesen. 'Your sails flog, the boom knocks back and forth and it is hard to hold your direction. It is all the more frustrating when you are leading the pack and you fall out of the wind whilst your fellow competitors seem to stay in it and steal your hard won ground!' There are also technical setbacks on board: 'Our new boom has already suffered from serious damage,' he reports. 'I guess as a result of a design flaw. The lashing for the vang system strung under the boom has ended up actually cutting through the carbon fibre at the inboard end of the boom itself after the metal eye containing it came free.'
The boom was replaced during the Wellington stop over and the reasons behind the failure of the new spar are not down to brutal conditions or crew error. 'That this was caused in such light conditions where nothing is under very much pressure is annoying to say the least,' continues Salvesen with considerable restraint. 'We have already glued everything back into place and will do quite a lot of sanding and additional glass work in the morning. The manufacturers will hopefully get a technician down to Brazil to do complete repairs once we are there.'
Heading north-east has brought Team Mowgli in contact with Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty, holding the fleet’s northern station with the Belgian solo sailor currently trailing Salvesen and Thomson by 15 miles as both boats average similar speeds to the leading duo further to the south. While undertaking repairs in the ultra-light conditions, there has been a perfect opportunity for sightseeing on the British boat. 'We have been basking in glorious sunshine and enjoying the wildlife of the south Pacific Ocean,' explains Salvesen. 'There were more albatross around today than we have ever seen and at one point there must have been nearly twenty of them either flying around us or sitting on the water close by…I didn't know that albatross ever stopped flying! We also saw our first shark only about two or three metres from the boat. Not sure what it was but I guess it was about five feet long and hunting for sitting albatross!'
Leaderboard at 15:20 UTC Tuesday, 24th February 2009
Double-handed class
1. Desafio Cabo de Hornos - DTL 0.0nm Spd 3.4 kts
2. Beluga Racer - DTL 2.6nm Spd 2.4kts
3. Team Mowgli - DTL 41.2nm Spd 3.1kts
Single-handed class
1. Roaring Forty - DTL 0.0nm Spd 3.7kts
www.portimaorace.com
by Oliver Dewar
6:01 PM Tue 24 Feb 2009 GMT
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