Day 28, Friday January 1, 1999

Mike Golding © Photo Marek Slodownik

The day was full of activity and surprises. Golding was only four miles north of Cape Reinga when he struck some object underwater and called Mayday. A fishing boat answered his distress message and was standing by. Golding also contacted race director Mark Schrader and reported taking on water. He suffered damage to hull and swing keel. He had to close the watertight bulkheads, but he was not injured.

An hour later, 140 miles from the finish line, he continued sailing at six knots. He supposedly asked for a tow and it was unclear if he was doing those six knots under sail or under the tow. By race rules he was not allowed to use tow for a distance of more than 10 miles.

Mark Thiercelin © Photo Billy Black

Two hours later, Marc Thiercelin also hit something like a submerged cargo container. The impact had jammed his rudders and forced him to drop sail for two hours to make repairs. He continued sailing but one of his two rudders was jammed and he suffered difficulties steering.

Before Thiercelin hit the cargo container, Autissier closed to within three-tenths of a mile of him. Now it looked like she might finish second and hold first place overall.

Giovanni Soldini © Photo Billy Black

The biggest news was of course Giovanni Soldini's first place. He crossed the finish line at 15:24:52 GMT (4:24 a.m. Auckland time, 2 January). When Soldini crossed the finish line, second placed Mike Golding was about 150 miles behind him and was towed to a nearby bay where he dropped anchor to await daylight. Farther back, Somewhere was still for two hours with Thiercelin repairing the rudders. His Leg 2 time was 27 days, 5 hours, 24 minutes and 52 seconds.

Soldini's Fila

Fila finished in Auckland with only small damage - a leaky rudder seal. Soldini was hand pumping because he could not stop the water from coming in. Later he used a pump off the water ballast to keep the water out.

Soldini's Fila © Photo Marek Slodownik

Soldini had been the early favorite to win this race. However, a bad luck with his decision to stay north early in Leg 1 cost him dearly. He finished Leg 1 three days behind the winner Mike Golding. During Leg 2 Soldini slipped into the lead on Day 11 and held it till the finish.

Fila © Photo Marek Slodownik

At the same time Isabelle Autissier was moving well in a 10-knot southerly. She reported: "Well, this has been an incredible turn of events! Giovanni was a bit slowed down as the wind shifted. Nothing unusual there; we'll have our hands full too, dealing with that shitty wind. But two collisions at the same time, in this small fleet of ours! Apparently Mike sailed too close to the cape, which has a bad reputation: currents, fishing boats, lots of problems. Let's hope Mike doesn't have to drop out; I'm sure he'll do anything not to quit. As for Marc, I'm right in the area, so he would have let me know if the problem was serious."

Cray Valley © Photo Billy Black

The big surprise was the performance of Class II leader J.P. Mouligne, who was at one point just 11 miles behind Isabelle and closing. But by the end of the day he dropped to 56 miles back. The next boat was 659 miles behind JP.

Only Robin Davie was far from all this excitement. He was still over 5000 miles back from finish line. He wrote: It's New Years eve here on SC as the sun sets on a red horizon, whilst at the end of leg 2 in Auckland it is already dawn on New Years day. Charleston is eating lunch on New Years eve... and finally the old country - Cornwall, its Tea-Time New Years eve... SC is finally on her way southeastwards again, we have had our daily calm and drift after a night of bashing into a near southeasterly gale. By midday today we were back in sight of Ile de l'Est, the eastern most Island of the Crozet Islands, and only 25 miles further east than we were yesterday afternoon. Basically we have had the most dismal of 24 hours sailing in terms of progress towards Auckland. Despite sailing 165 miles, only 74 miles were sailed towards Auckland, and most of the lost miles are the result of beating north then south into the easterly headwinds, and the lack of clear weather information on which to plan a route too."

© Photo Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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