Around Alone, Tiscali dismasted 30 miles from finish

by Mary Ambler on 4 May 2003 During his last night at sea racing in Around Alone, Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti informed his shore team and the race organisation Tiscali would be arriving before dawn, but was worried about his mast because he could not take more than one reef in the mainsail and yet the wind had risen to 45 – 50 knots.

His worst suspicions were confirmed at 04:15hrs local time, just 30 miles from the end of a 28,000 mile circumnavigation, when in the dead of night Bianchetti heard that fearful sound of carbon cracking and came out of the cabin to find his mast had snapped just above the 3rd spreader. Amazingly, the spar was still dangling by the threads of the halyards, with the main sail still attached.

Simone was not going to be beaten: “I immediately started to secure the mast to see if I could save it. If I could keep that section of the mast in the boat I knew I would be able to make the finish. In any case I knew I was going to make the finish even if I had to swim towing the boat.”

At the Newport Shipyard, the news of his dismasting sent a shock wave through the team there readying to meet him. At this time, all three Open 60’s were not far behind, and theoretically this could have spelled the end of his quest for the 3rd spot on the overall podium.

And then just one hour later Bianchetti called again: “I am back sailing at 8 knots and have less than 16 miles to go. Make sure everyone is there to greet me.”

With the mast upright, Simone had set his staysail and lashed any dangling parts of the rig to stop them from smacking into the boat. He was able to bear off and still make course, and with the mainsail flapping in the wind and the staysail drawing, he nursed his crippled yacht, tacking slowly across the bay and crossed over the finish line in Newport at 08:01:30hrs local time (12:01:30 GMT).

There was a palpable sigh of relief. Tiscali has taken second for Leg 5, and should either Thierry Dubois on Solidaires or Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet beat Emma Richards on Pindar, he will take third place overall in Around Alone 2002-03.

At his finish, French skipper Thierry Dubois on Solidaires was 65 miles behind him closing in at 12 knots boatspeed. He is expected to finish at 15:30hrs local time, which will secure him the second place on the overall podium for Around Alone 2002-03.

“Last night the wind was blowing over 50 knots and the seas were very bad. I knew that I was going to lose my mast. I even called my project manager and told him that it was going to happen and then a little while later the mast broke. 400,000 Euros was a bit of an expensive way to take a reef – but after the dismasting the mainsail was set perfectly! But I knew that I was going to finish. And now here I am. And now I have the record for the most number of masts broken; three in eight months!”

“ The last leg I knew my route, I wasn’t concerned about Solidaires or Pindar over to the East because when you are heading for America, the only way to cross the Doldrums is over to the West.”

“The hardest part of the race was in Cape Town, when I realised I had only 3 days on land before I had to restart again. After everything I’d gone through with the dismasting and then racing to get Tiscali to the finish in time, to turn the boat around in 3 days was the toughest job. The best moment – well, it has to be now.”

“I want to thank my shore team, who have had the hardest job to do during the race because I keep breaking things! Also I thank my sponsor Tiscali, for having faith in me to see this through, because we started the project very late on, and had setbacks with the first dismasting even before the race began. Now I have finished Around Alone, I will go back to Sardegna and talk with my sponsor about the vision for the future, and find out what we need to change in the programme. Of course my objective is to do the Vendée Globe again.”


Around Alone Overall Rankings – Class 1

1. Bobst Group – Armor Lux: 49 points / 115 days 18hrs 27m 23s

Leg 5 Rankings - Class 1

1. Bobst Group – Armor Lux finished at 11:20:10 GMT 1st May 03 after 17 days, 19hrs, 20m 23s

2. Tiscali finished at 12:01:30 GMT 3rd May 03 after 19 days, 20 hrs, 1m 30s

Class 1
Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF

1. Solidaires 40 56.400 N, 70 09.380 W, 86.20 nm, 10.79 kt, 289 °T, 62.83 nm, 3

2. Ocean Planet 40 21.620 N, 69 24.400 W, 75.36 nm, 9.43 kt, 295 °T, 110.62 nm, 4

3. Pindar 39 09.900 N, 67 48.900 W, 56.74 nm, 7.08 kt, 288 °T, 212.91 nm, 5

Class 2

Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF

1. Tommy Hilfiger 34 07.080 N, 65 45.800 W, 27.49 nm, 3.44 kt, 330 °T, 514.17 nm

2. Everest Horizontal 32 29.254 N, 64 15.372 W, 68.51 nm, 8.55 kt, 319 °T, 636.63 nm

3. Spirit of yukoh 28 35.851 N, 58 41.293 W, 32.20 nm, 4.03 kt, 323 °T, 989.45 nm

4. BTC Velocity 24 05.973 N, 55 20.508 W, 21.12 nm, 2.64 kt, 359 °T, 1313.72 nm

* Spirit of Canada (Leg 4) at 14:00 GMT - 17 24. 140 S, 37 52. 380 W, DTF 265 nm

Overall Results in Points / Total Elapsed Time after 4 Legs

Class 1
1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux – 39pts / 97 days 23 hrs 7 mins 13 secs
2 Solidaires – 37pts / 98 days 9 hrs 57 mins 47 secs
3 Pindar – 27pts / 110 days 16 hrs 30 mins 23 secs
4 Tiscali – 26pts / 140 days 0 hrs 51 mins 41 secs
5 Ocean Planet – 23pts / 138 days 19 hrs 5 mins 45 secs

Class 2
1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America – 40pts / 128 days 0 hrs 0 mins 54 secs
2 Everest Horizontal – 35 pts / 148 days 0 hrs 15 mins 41 secs
3 *Spirit of Canada – 25 pts / 174 days 6hrs 47 mins 44 secs
4 Spirit of yukoh – 28 pts / 155 days 23 hrs 24 mins 44 secs
5 BTC Velocity – 23 pts / 174 days 6 hrs 47 mins 44 secs

* Spirit of Canada points & elapsed time after 3 legs only, 3rd place ranking based on his completion of Leg 4.

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