Another closely contested Global leg

by Rachel Anning on 8 Apr 2005 Me To You, BG SPIRIT and Samsung have crossed the Global Challenge 6,000 nautical mile leg finish line, making it 10 yachts out of 12 now home and into Cape Town, following another round of exceptionally close racing.

Me To You, skippered by James Allen finished at 10.31:40 GMT; BG SPIRIT, led by Leg three winner, Andy Forbes at 12.48:32 GMT and Samsung, skippered by Matt Riddell in 13.03.03.

Leg four is considered to be the toughest leg and the skippers who have finished and savoured their first beers and tasted real food have been reflective of the leg.

‘You’d have to pay me a lot of money to do that again. A LOT of money!’ explained second placed, BP Explorer David Melville. ‘The past 24 hours of racing were absolutely incredible.

'We’ve used every kite on the boat; we’ve ripped kites; put them up; put them down. There’s been fog in, fog out, light winds, strong winds, head winds, tail winds, absolutely everything!

‘I’m absolutely delighted to be here. It would have been nice to have been first but you can’t have everything and we’re trying to be consistent and so far it’s working.'

One world-famous skipper who understands what the race is like and how difficult it can be for the skippers is Mike Golding, winner of the BT Global Challenge 1996/97.

Talking to race organisers, Challenge Business earlier in the week he explained: ‘Somebody asked me a few weeks ago after the Vendee what my greatest sailing achievement was and I have to say winning the BT Global Challenge.

‘Most of the sailing community don’t understand what goes into the Global Challenge; the level of commitment the skippers have to have, how difficult it is to manage a team of dissimilar individuals who aren’t necessarily from a sailing background and have different motivations.

'They don’t understand so they can’t possibly understand the wonderful feeling of success when it goes right and it all comes together.

'Only the skippers of the challenge know how hard it is do the challenge and how difficult the job is.’

Duggie Gillespie, skipper of Spirit of Sark and winner of Leg four is currently basking in first place glory but one skipper who is feeling hard done by is Dee Caffari who led the fleet for much of the leg with her crew Imagine It. Done.

‘At the moment it just doesn’t seem fair, it seems unjust and it’ll take me a couple of days to get used to it.

‘In port the crew are quite subdued and wrapped up in their own thoughts. I’ve had a few tears already but I’m pleased to be in and to have got the crew here in one piece.’

Asked what happened in the 11th hour when she went from first to fourth Dee replied, ‘in the last 24 hours we sailed into light winds first then everyone piled in behind us, then it was the case of he who got the air first.

‘It was a constant battle for hours but we lost sight of each other when the darkness came. The others managed to get further offshore and found a breeze. To miss a podium place is really gutting.’

Indeed a bitter blow for the crew and word on the pontoons is that Imagine It. Done. were robbed.

Clive Cosby, skipper of third placed Team Stelmar said, ‘our hearts go out to Imagine It. Done. They really did deserve to win as she led the fleet for so much of the race. That takes a lot of doing to be out there for so much of the race.’

The pontoons are now waiting for BG SPIRIT and Samsung to arrive. The two have crossed the finish line, but are currently motoring to what will be their home for the next couple of weeks.