Around Alone...Stamm restarts after keel repairs

by Around Alone...Stamm restarts after keel repairs on 28 Feb 2003 All the Class 1 boats in Around Alone 2002-03 are safely round Cape Horn. At 17:00hrs GMT today Bernard Stamm restarted his race on Bobst Group -Armor Lux after a 22 hour pit-stop in Port Stanley to repair his broken keel board.

The impatient and exhausted skipper snatched just an hour's sleep and mended his mainsail rip whilst three men worked in the confined space in
Bernard's rabbit-warren of a boat on fixing and bolting the two steel plates either side of the keel.

The laborious part was drilling through the 14cm
monolithic carbon at the base of the keel board just above the axis.

Penalised by 48hrs for stopping in the Falklands, Stamm must now fight hard to keep his first place in the overall rankings. In order to stay ahead,
Bernard must finish 3rd in Salvador, inclusive of his penalty, to total 38 points, one more than Dubois will tally if he wins this leg and scoops the coveted 10 points.

Bruce Schwab on wounded Ocean Planet rounded the Horn earlier today and is heading for the Falkland Islands to pull in and repair his broken boom.

Graham Dalton is sheltering Hexagon in the archipelago to starboard of Cape Horn and made the rendez-vous with his shore manager last night to get the carbon splint onto his boom, but he has yet to rejoin the race.

Latest positions

Class 1 - Open 60s

1. Solidaires, Thierry Dubois, 2070.4 miles to finish of leg

2. Bobst Group, Bernard Stamm, 217.1 miles to leader

3. Tiscali, Simone Bianchetti, 445.2 nm

4. Pindar, Emma Richards, 656.6 nm

5. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 677.7 nm

6. Hexagon, Graham Dalton, 786.1 nm

Class 2 - 50s and 40s

1. Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, Brad Van Liew, 2877.3 miles to finish of leg

2. Everest Horizontal, Tim Kent, 758 nm to leader

3. Spirit of Yukoh, Kojiro Shiraishi, 948.1 nm

4. BTC Velocity, Alan Paris, 1414.2 nm

5. Spirit of Canada, Derek Hatfield, 1563.8 nm

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