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GLOBAL OCEAN RACE 2011-2012

GOR: hunting and hoping for the Trade Winds

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It has been an immensely tricky 48 hours throughout the double-handed Class40 fleet in the Global Ocean Race (GOR) as the four boats negotiate light airs, a strong foul current and the oil and gas platforms littering Brazil’s continental shelf. Fleet leader, Cessna Citation, found the first relatively stable breeze at 20S and has been averaging the best speeds, but has yet to dig into the trade winds, while, at 06:00 GMT on Tuesday, in second place and currently 98 miles south of Colman and Cavanough, Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo with Financial Crisis re-took second place following an excursion offshore to find some breeze and escape the two-knot Brazil Current.

Furthest inshore, the option taken by the South Africans on Phesheya-Racing saw Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire sailing very close to the surf line on Brazil’s white-sand beaches as the Dutch duo of Nico Budel and Erik van Vuuren doggedly punched the current on Sec. Hayai in fourth place in minimal breeze with the two Class40s still struggling to make headway 30 miles off the coast.

Since passing through the ridge of high pressure blocking progress, Colman and Cavanough had been averaging over seven knots with Cessna Citation until the speed dropped back to six knots at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday. Conrad Colman paints the scene 35 miles off the coast: “We’ve been blessed with perfectly clear skies both day and night, leaving us to enjoy the most spectacular, watercolour sunsets and sail the boat without head lamps at night thanks to the lunar light left on high beam for our convenience,” he reported on Tuesday afternoon.

But the tranquillity was soon shattered: “Given the light conditions and the virginal white moonlight, it was a shock to be presented by the hustle and bustle of the New Jersey Turnpike in the middle of the ocean,” says the 28 year-old Kiwi.

10/04/2012 18:35:00 © riproduzione riservata

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