Day 33, Wednesday October 28, 1998

First four boats of Class I fleet had less than 1000 mile to go to reach the finish line at Cape Town. Isabelle Autissier, Marc Thiercelin, Mike Golding and Josh Hall were continuing to run with average speeds of 12 to 13 knots. The leaders enjoyed wind where, according to the weather maps, wind should not be.

© Foto Richard Konkolski

Four years ago Isabelle Autissier won the first leg of this race with five days ahead of her nearest challenger. This time it was much tougher situation for her. She had many problems, which cost her an early lead and forced her back in the fleet for more than two weeks. Autissier admitted that she was sailing harder than other competitors with a little time for sleep. She spent the past few days trading first place with Thiercelin until Autissier recently got 31 miles in front of him.

Isabelle Autissier

It was a big day for Golding. He had to back sails and put his boat in reverse to be able to clear a forty feet long line from his keel. But despite that he was able to get 1.5 mile in front of Thiercelin and took second position with great hope of reaching Cape Town even before Isabelle. Thiercelin's third place must have been a great disappointment for him after so long leading his class. Around Alone is his first race, but he is definitively a guy to watch.

Garmore

Two hundred miles back was Hall in his fourth position. He was trying to cut the high and reduce his track, but it did not pay off. Fifth place Soldini had again split away in search for stronger westerly wind, which should have appeared in his region.

Almost three thousand miles behind, Konioukhov was battling with his boat to get her sailing on wind. Probably due to lack of the preparation time in Charleston, he decided not to use the waterbalast in his boat and discovered that without this ballast his boat sailed sideways just about as fast as it sailed forward.

Fedor Konioukhov © Foto Billy Black

In Class II, J.P. Mouligne held a 44-mile lead over Balance Bar. Both sailors suffered damage to their mainsails during a passing cold front. JP suffered unusual vertical tear in his mainsail. He wrote: "Early yesterday morning, I woke up Henry Little, my sail maker from Rhode Island, and got some good advice on how to fix my mainsail. I went to work on it right away, but lost several hours running with the staysail only. First you have to take the main down completely. Then cut long strips of kevlar cloth from a spare sheet and apply a double-sided sticky tape to the back of it. Clean the patch area on the sail with acetone and carefully apply the cloth like a band aid, then rub hard with a screw driver handle to make it stick. Cover the whole thing with more adhesive tape to prevent it from lifting, bring the main back up and off you go..."

"Sounds easy! But on a wet platform angled 20 degrees and moving at 10 knots with spray flying everywhere, it is not really the ideal conditions for a perfect job. Every few hours last night I would point my flash light on the patch fearing that it would break at any time but it held and looks ok this morning in the day light. I am now at 36 South and with the wind slowly veering to the North I am gradually turning east toward Cape Town. The forecast calls for a strong cold front by Friday, so I expect good North to Northwest wind for the next couple of days in which Cray Valley should be flying."

© Foto Richard Konkolski

"I have a small lead on Balance Bar and I am more South than him, Magellan has caught up a lot on distance to finish but is way to the North of us. The race is very open at this point and anything can happen but I feel good to be South and I have confidence in Cray Valley speed."

Mouligne's shore manager, Phil Lee, already in Cape Town said: "This is our light-air sail, which we only need for this leg and the last leg. One of the reasons the team chose to have Kevlar sails was that they are cheaper and lighter. This meant we could have two sails, a heavy for the Southern Ocean and a light for the first and last leg. We don't need that sail until Punta del Este."

Van Liew actually had two rips, one at the leech that was about one-and-a-half-feet and the other in the center that was about three feet. Both of the tears were below the second reef and above the first. He spent all afternoon sail mending.

Mike Garside

Positioned third, Garside e-mailed: "I am taking miles off them, but JP is right. It will be a different story in a few days. I am desperately trying to get south but because I am so far behind I am trying to cut the corner and follow the route of the big boys. The weather files we have been given show that it is highly unlikely that I will be able to make it. However, since yesterday afternoon I have had a North and NW wind that is not shown on any forecast anywhere, and I'm making quiet but steady progress SE."

Robin Davie was holding onto his fourth place: "Looking at the chart one can see from my notes and the routes of the boats ahead of me, Cray, Balance and Magellan, that they had much bigger daily miles and better winds as they came south where I presently am, but we are all now getting caught up in various parts of the great high pressure area and ridges that dominate the weather here at present. Fortunately I am doing as well wind wise as any of them - so long may that continue."

© Foto Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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