Here comes The Cone!!

by Rob Kothe on 25 Jul 2005 Jamie Neill's Super 30, The Cone of Silence, from Sydney in Australia, put in a 246 nautical mile day on Saturday, following their Friday spectacular 255nm effort, to close on the leaders.

Now, on Sunday Neill's rocket covered 263 miles - less than two days away from the Transpac's Hawaii finish.

It was a tough start for The Cone, the smallest boat in the fleet. Day after day of reaching conditions ensured the downwind flier was sailing slower than any other Division III boat in the 2225-mile race.

Four days ago, the lightweight Reichel Pugh 31 was stone motherless last in the fleet that sailed out of Long Beach on July 15th.

She was more than 100 miles behind her division leader, but since then, her giant blue asymmetric has been powering her forward in the fleet. The Cone has already passed most of the 50 footers. On Sunday morning at 1.00am PDT (7.00pm Sunday night Sydney time), she was 540 miles west of Diamond Head, pushing hard to her class across the Diamond Head finish line.

Neill reported by satellite phone last night, ‘we are in good shape, just looking for more breeze. It’s been a soft race and we’d decided this was the right runway, just the wrong year for The Cone to achieve a really good result, but if the last 24 hours brings us 20 knots, its going be a fun ride.’

They could be lucky; the Hawaiian Weather Service forecast for Sunday night is a 20 knot easterly, resulting from a strong surface high-pressure system north/north-east of the main Hawaiian Islands.

Can she come home fast enough? The Cone has done if before, she was the first boat under 60 feet to finish in the 2005 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour race, back in January 2005.

There is movement across the fleet. On Friday, Tom Garnier's Reinrag 2, the J/125 that won Division III in 2003, leapt from fourth to first overall, with a 229-mile day.

At Saturday morning’s radio sked, the Tim Beatty owned Robert Perry 56, Stealth Chicken, had moved to the front of the pack, just 29 miles ahead of The Cone.

It was no contest yesterday; the Cone sailed 263 miles in the last 24 hours, leaving the Chicken well astern.

Monday morning Sydney time, Neill's boat gybed again, as she headed south-west, 430 miles from the finish, with an 11 knot average over the last hour.

Still too soft for her serious speed, should the breeze pick up to above 20's, The Cone could reel off 360 miles for her final 24 hours. There is no official record for boats under 40 feet, but given the conditions, the Aussie boat could set a serious benchmark before she reaches Hawaii.

Low orbit satellites are polling the Argos transceiver on The Cone’s stern rail every 30 minutes. The full data string is then downloaded to the French ground station and transmitted to Sail-World USA.

http://www.sail-world.com/yachttracker.cfm?SEID=71

Handicap positions at latest sked

Division III (Started July 15)


1. Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore. (90:15:09), 493.

2. The Cone of Silence (Super 30), Jamie Neill, Sydney, Australia (83:69:39), 469.

3. Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, San Francisco (84:08:21), 490.

4. Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (80:52:12), 492.

5. Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif. (90:16:35), 550.

6. Artemis (Andrews 53), Louis Bianco, Seattle (90:58:29), 562.

7. Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico (86:10:42), 571.

8. Blue (J/160), Ken and /Cheryl Sears, Nashville, Tenn. (93:03:17), 615.

9. Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego (91:10:54), 630.

10. DH-Serena (T1150), David Kuettel/Dave Van Houten, Bel Marin, Calif. (84:32:16), 628.

11. Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (74:38:45), 616.

12. Dasher (S/C 50), Roger Groh, Sausalito, Calif. (89:38:24), 828.

13. Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (95:31:20), NO REPORT.