Neil Hunter © Photo Marek Slodownik
Neil Hunter © Photo Marek Slodownik
Neil Hunter finally crossed the finish line at 20:09:10 local time, (07:09:10 Greenwich Mean Time) to finish in seventh place and be the last in within the time limit. Hunter beat the deadline by only 16 hours, leaving still two competitors behind. He spent 54 days, 21 hours, 9 minutes and 10 seconds at sea.
Neil Hunter © Photo Marek Slodownik
Luckily Hunter experienced no serious problems during the leg. He quit his job at a computer company and sold all his personal possessions to be able to go for the race. He was racing without sponsorship and was very glad to finish the leg in Auckland.
At the same time Class I competitor Fedor Konioukhov got stuck on the wrong side of North Island. His son Oscar said that headwinds prevented his father from getting around Cape Reinga. Due to his non-functioning water ballast system his boat getting blown offshore. He was doing 6 knots and had covered 148 miles during the last day, but did not make any progress towards the finish. He needed wind with good direction but weather was not going to change for next two days.
At noon Fedor Konioukhov and Robin Davie failed to make the mandatory deadline for finishing Leg 2. But just moments before the deadline passed, Oscar Konioukhov, Fedor's son, issued a statement from his father saying he had retired from the race. In his statement Konioukhov said that he have encountered many technical difficulties with his boat since the beginning of the race and those problems have worsened in the Southern Ocean. He should find a way to continue his personal quest and meet his commitments to his partner in Moscow, Modern University for the Humanities.
Davie was still 904 miles from Auckland at the limit time. Earlier in the day, he sent Race Director Mark Schrader an email formally requesting that the race committee apply the extraordinary circumstances exemption to excuse his late arrival. Schrader said that no consideration of Davie's request would be made until Davie arrived in Auckland. At this time he did not have enough information to consider Davie's request.
© Photo Richard Konkolski
Place |
Skipper |
Boat |
Latitude |
Longitude |
Dist. to go |
Speed |
Dist. to first |
Time |
1 |
Soldini |
Fila |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Thierceli |
Somewhere |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Autissier |
PRB |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Hall |
Gartmore |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
Konioukhov |
Mod.Univ.Human. |
3421S |
172 38E |
180 |
6.5 |
179.7 |
2140 |
6 |
Golding |
Team Group 4 |
Retired |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Place |
Skipper |
Boat |
Latitude |
Longitude |
Dist. to go |
Speed |
Dist. to first |
Time |
1 |
Mouligne |
Cray Valley |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Garside |
Magellan Alpha |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Van Liew |
Balance Bar |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Yazykov |
Wind of Change |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
Saito |
Shuten-dohji II |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Petersen |
No Barriers |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Hunter |
Paladin II |
Auckland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
Davie |
South Carolina |
36 50S |
159 29E |
904 |
4.6 |
903.6 |
2144 |
9 |
Stricker |
Rapscallion III |
Retired |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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