Stamm adds 400 miles - Velux 5 Oceans

by Event Media on 24 Jan 2007
This afternoon's 15:00 position report reveals that Bernard Stamm covered 400 miles in the past 24 hours, suggesting that he's still driving Cheminées Poujoulat at full tilt.

With a 369 mile buffer to Koji Shiraishi in second place, the Swiss sailor could be forgiven for taking his foot off the gas, but for the time being he's keeping his foot to the floor.

Stamm has been pleasantly surprised by the weather conditions. 'I was expecting a low pressure system with a normal front approach, with high altitude clouds at first and more grey, dark and low clouds and heavy rain nearer the front. With the north-westerly wind, the front should reach me after tomorrow. Now the wind has started as you would expect, which is good for the boatspeed.

'But first anomaly: the wind turned left and dropped a little bit. And second: there are no clouds at all. A wonderful, sunny and windy day. I think the low is slowly weakening or moving much slower than predicted. Anyway, for the moment it is perfect, unexpected.'

Sailors such as Stamm relish the challenge of tearing through the Southern Ocean at high speed, encountering waves the size of houses. What would make the experience perfect is if it was warm and sunny. Well, warm it certainly isn't, but sunny it is. And for that he is very grateful.

As the leader passes the ice waypoint at Campbell Island to the south of New Zealand, this more or less marks the half way point of the Velux 5 Oceans, in terms of distance sailed.

For Graham Dalton this milestone is particularly poignant, as he is going to be sailing right past his homeland, and it will be months from now before he gets the chance to set foot on the shores of his beloved New Zealand. Not that he's the sentimental kind. 'I wouldn't mind going home to check up on things, but we're carrying on past, that's the name of the game.

'I was just thinking earlier, that passing the bottom of New Zealand would be about half way. It seems to have been a hell of a struggle to get this far - I hope the second half is easier. Certainly the miles from New Zealand to the Horn - well I know what happened last time [in the race four years ago]. I got kicked badly last time, the boat got rolled and the boom broke.'

Dalton has had his fair share of dramas already this time in the Southern Ocean, but he certainly can't rule out the prospect of a fair few more scary moments between now and Cape Horn.

If anyone is equipped to cope with the rigours of this icy stretch of the Southern Ocean, it's the indomitable Dalton, although even he has been feeling the stress since departing Fremantle 10 days ago.

'I found the first few days the hardest I've ever felt when being at sea. I think that was the combination of a very tough first leg in the Southern Ocean, not much in the way of shore crew in Fremantle - although I had some really good people. But I was down at the boat every day working. I just hit the wall, basically.'

At least now Dalton is getting into his stride, as he maintains a healthy gap to the two at the back, Unai Basurko and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston who are many miles apart but only a few miles different in terms of distance down the race track.

Positions at 15:00 - 23 January 2007

Pos	Yacht	No	Time	Latitude	Longitude	Course (deg)	Speed (knots)	DTF	DTL	Avg speed last pos	Dist last pos	Avg speed 24 hrs	Dist 24hrs
1	Cheminees Poujoulat	7	15:08	51° 44.04 S	170° 43.40 E	82	15.3	11333		16.57	85	16.7	400
2	Spirit of Yukoh	11	15:08	52° 39.12 S	160° 20.48 E	83	8	11703	369	11.52	80	12.56	301
3	A Southern Man-AGD	2	15:08	47° 26.80 S	148° 42.16 E	125	8.1	12221	888	7.26	116	7.8	187
4	PAKEA	26	15:08	43° 33.20 S	139° 12.96 E	112	9.1	12684	1350	11.07	107	10.34	248
5	SAGA Insurance	44	15:08	47° 08.32 S	135° 47.16 E	120	12.3	12701	1367	9.9	106	10.96	263