Day 40, Wednesday November 4, 1998

There was no longer any excitement in Class 1. The only sailor still on the sea was Konioukhov more than 3000 miles away from Cape Town and of course with no communication link except scarce messages through his son. But there was a lot action going on in Class II.

© Foto Richard Konkolski

Stricker on Rapscallion III was able to pass Robin Davie and got 20 miles in front of his crippled boat. Robin Davie was beginning his fifth day of racing without a rudder. He was averaging six-plus knots, but the handicap was beginning to take its toll.

Rapscallion III © Foto Billy Black

Class II leader J.P. Mouligne had 326 miles left to sail. Brad Van Liew and Mike Garside had little hope of winning, but Garside made huge gain on Van Liew and the race for second was wide open. JP wrote: "I had a fairly slow night, straight down wind, and heading more toward Antarctica than Cape Town. It is hard when you are so close but cannot point the bow directly toward the finish line. Early this morning I decided to gibe and I am now moving well with a strong west to northwest wind going directly for the line still 326 miles away."

Robin Davie was able to explain his way of handling his boat. "With no rudder, there is no directional stability to the boat's movement," he wrote. "It's like a windsurfing, where you have no rudder, and it is your movement, weight distribution, and direction you heel or move the sail plan that will define the sailboard's directional movement. I see no point in the conventional wisdom of trying to rig up a rudder with a spinnaker pole, because then I would have to stand and steer at the end of this ridiculous great pole. If a windsurfer needs no rudder, surely we can get the boat to steer by balance."

Davie unrolled the inner jib, sheeted in, and South Carolina promptly tacked and came to a halt with the sail backed the opposite tack. This happened 6 or 8 times until he realized it could not work out. But with some experimentation Davie soon learned that if he kept the inner jib backed, set his larger genoa, and hoisted a scrap of main, he could make progress in the general direction give or take 40 or so degrees of wandering. He also streamed a 300-foot line from stern for additional control.

South Caroline © Foto Billy Black

"Today the wind is building and with the stronger winds the boat's motion has become poor," he explained. "Because of the way the inner jib is backed, the boat's motion is not normal. It's quite jerky, especially when we head up into the wind and seas. The normal ride tends to be natural, easy and fluid. Now it is taut and forced. South Carolina has a new battle cry: Shake, rattle and roll."

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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