Day 07, Friday February 12, 1999

© Photo Richard Konkolski

Josh Hall, with flu that exhausted him, motored through the night. In the morning, with SW gale still blowing, he raised the spinnaker pole as a mast and put some canvas on it. He was making about 6 knots towards the Chathams Islands, which were some 200 miles away.

Scott Wallace, his project manager, had already arrived in the Chathams. He was arranging a fishing boat for tow to rendezvous with Hall when Hall would be fifty miles from shore and tow him the remaining distance to Auckland. Once there, they could ship the boat back to England and repair the boat. The trouble was, that they really did not know what actually happened to the mast as Josh reported: "So for this to happen is bizarre in the extreme and because the whole lot is 3000metres under the surface we will never be able to say that this fitting or that part failed - we simply will never know and that makes it even worse."

Josh Hall's better days © Photo Billy Black

"I feel so deeply for the so many people who have lived and breathed this for so long - especially Claire, from Gartmore, Scott and my enduring family. It was almost exactly a year ago that Scott and I moved to Cherbourg to work on bringing the boat to life... such a short time that seems to have been forever when I think of all we have done. The boats log already shows enough mileage for a circumnavigation. This is our beautiful creation - all of ours and I hate even looking out of the window and seeing her so wounded."

Marc Thiercelin © Photo Marek Slodownik 

At the same time Thiercelin was holding the Class I lead. Isabelle Autissier was closing on him but still 26 miles behind. In Class II Mike Garside in first place widened his lead on Balance Bar to 27 miles. He reported: "The weather is still giving me a crazy ride down here. It's not as though the wind is all that unfavorable. It's from the SW and I'm heading SE. That puts the sea on the beam and the apparent wind of 25 to 30 knots at 60 degrees off the bow. Result is a lot of heel and being chucked sideways every now and again by one of the biggish seas I'm crossing! Anyway, it's been good enough to let me grab back the lead. Now if I can only hold it to Punta..."

J.P. Mouligne, 48 miles behind the leader, held third place and was closing the gap. He emailed: "I am going very fast at the moment, 21 knots on the GPS as I am slowly typing this message... It is hard to describe the ride. Not having wind instruments I can only estimate the wind and I sail by feeling, standing up inside adjusting water ballast constantly. I have my foul weather gear pants on and ready to put my wet jacket on if I need to go outside to take a reef. The companionway door is open and the cabin floor is getting very wet as water is pouring into the cockpit and splashing inside but it is the only way to stay in touch with what is going on outside. It pays to type slowly Cape Horn is now only 3392 miles..."

Wind of Change  © Photo Billy Black

In fourth place in Class II, Viktor Yazykov had his scare moment. He hit a log. "At about 0400 GMT we hit some huge log. The log was almost below the water and we have been flying at 12 knots almost above the water. The weather is too rough for diving. Hope the hull is not damaged", he wrote.

Neal Petersen reported that he finally crossed the international dateline into the Western Hemisphere. Actually all boats were now West of the date line.

© Photo Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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