Day 17, Monday October 12, 1988

Neil Hunter © Foto Billy Black

Despite the fact that the tradewinds were on the increase for boats south of 20N, there were no changes in positioning except for Class II competitor Neil Hunter who was overpasses by Petersen and Saito. It looked like Neil was still getting his boat in order. He wrote: "All's well but still little wind. There is a bit out of the NE, which at least has the boat moving under full sail in the right direction. Last night was very pleasant with a couple of rain clouds with just enough rain to wash the salt off the deck. Boat is performing well and new mast is settling in. There are a whole new set of noises and sounds to get used to. If today is warm and the deck is dry I will plug up some leaks where the mast passes through the deck collar. Any waves on deck or rain and she leaks like a sieve below and it is to the buckets."

Golding's Team Group 4 © Foto Billy Black

Hall and Golding were enjoying better conditions. They got steady tradewind sailing and Golding was even able to sleep for 12 hours. At the same time he was hoping that Thiercelin would come into the southeast trades too soon and end up battling to round Recife, Brazil. If that would happen, he should be in good shape, but if somehow Marc would manage to turn quickly around the corner Thiercelin would be hard to catch.

Austissier's PRB © Foto Billy Black

Isabelle was not happy at her fourth position. She wrote: "At the moment, it's a total catastrophe. I am going 4 knots at 200 degree and the wind doesn't seem to want to move…. I think that Marc has decided to take advantage of the wind as much as possible to go as far South as he can to cross through the Doldrums quickly and then to round the point of Brazil. The Tradewinds in the Southern Hemisphere, the next weather phenomena to deal with after the Doldrums, theoretically blow southeast and Marc is betting that he will be able to round the point of Brazil without being forced to beat to the east. As for me, I wanted to be a little more cautious because the Doldrums are low (around 2°N/3°N). But now the winds are very weak in the entire zone, from 7° to 3° north."

Mouligne's Cray Valley © Foto Billy Black
In Class II today, Mouligne had widened up a 37-mile lead over Garside. He was close reaching in the Tradewinds with good speed since yesterday morning. He was running with main and genoa and full water ballast, heading for the entrance to the Doldrums some 400 miles away. "It is not exactly a comfortable ride," he e-mailed, "Very often, the boat takes off on top of a wave and lands with a huge banging noise. A few minutes ago my pressure cooker flew out of the stove and across the cabin…. Today I am starting my third week at sea. I look at myself in the mirror and see that my beard is catching up with my hair. I have done about one third of this first leg, I feel good and look forward to this next month at sea."

Petersen's No Barriers © Foto Billy Black

At the same time his fellow Class II mate Petersen was doing great on his old homemade 40-foot No Barriers. He was ahead of two 50-footers sailed by Stricker and Saito and only 25 miles behind Davie, who sailed 50-foot South Carolina.

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

© Richard Konkolski
Return back to First Leg