Day 47, Wednesday November 11, 1998

© Foto Richard Konkolski

By the end of the day Viktor Yazykov reached the Eastern Hemisphere. Just the crossing of the Greenwich Meridian must have been a great feeling, almost like having one foot it Cape Town which was only 900 miles away.

Victor gained an amazing 38 miles on Stricker who was sailing 10 foot larger boat. Stricker must have been happy that he had only 500 miles to go with over 400 miles lead on Yazykov. If the distance to Cape Town had been greater, Yazykov would have probably overtaken him as well.
Wind of Change Rusia © Foto Billy Black
According to race coordinator Peter Dunning, Yazykov described his elbow problem as "swollen, red, and with a yellow mark on it." Yazykov was communicating with fleet medical consultant Dr. Dan Carlin of the World Clinic, who prescribed antibiotics and told his patient to pay close attention to his injury.

Neal Petersen lost another 15 miles on Victor. In his message he wrote: "I will cross the Greenwich Meridian sometime in the early morning. I have overtaken Robin Davie and keeping pressure on Wind of Change Russia. We now have 935 miles to go. The countdown has begun. It could be as early as Tuesday, but boats don't run on schedules. The last 24 hours I have covered 176 miles, in fresh conditions."

Robin Davie slipped back 75 miles behind Petersen. Robin's main problem was the shift of the wind direction. He wrote: "Winds have gone from North during the early part of last night which was good, to south, and at present are in the southwest, a nice strength at 20 knots, but a hopeless direction as I am trying to sail with the wind pretty much astern, if I want to make an easterly course. That’s not good for the boats balance, so we are gybing often, onto a northerly heading, so then we have to persuade SC to come back onto the easterly tack. That is often easier said than done, and I have to resort to the bucket - a bucket on the end of a rope dragged through the water exerts a lot of drag, so tie the bucket to the quarter and it will sure help to turn the boat. Then remove bucket from the sea and leave ready for the next gybe - probably within 5 minutes... I seem to have done nothing for the past 24 hours other than haul the bucket and stern ropes from one side of the stern to the other as with a mind of her own SC keeps on the move and won't settle down - its tiring to the point of distraction."

Robin Davie © Foto Billy Black
Fedor Konioukhov was the last one. He reported as well: "Here I am, stuck in the middle of the South Atlantic. Mood is not very good. I have a task to get in to Cape Town by 28 of November. With this wind speed I doubt my chances. I ran out from the trade winds and have not found yet the western winds. Will pray for them." Later in his second message he added: "No time to speak, I have to steer all the time to get best performance."

© Foto Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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