Global Ocean Race leaders Mabire and Merron through scoring gate

6:35 PM Fri 14 Oct 2011 GMT

'Class40 Campagne de France, First through the Leg 1 Scoring Gate - Global Ocean Race 2011-12' Jesus Renedo ?

The Global Ocean Race's two leading boats have sailed into the Southern Hemisphere and through the Fastnet Marine Scoring Gate whilst on the western side of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, the main four vessels are gradually working themselves clear of the Doldrums.

The Franco-British duo of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron were first through the gate at 17:08 GMT on Thursday onboard Campagne de France, celebrating their 16th day at the front of the fleet with the maximum six points. Just under four hours later, Ross and Campbell Field passed through the gate taking five points for BSL.

Campbell Field aboard BSL - Jesus Renedo ?

As the two leaders cleared the gate and headed south 160 miles off the coast of Brazil, Conrad Colman and Hugo Ramon in third with Cessna Citation had found the Doldrums exit ramp and were picking up speed while the Italian-British duo of Marco Nannini and Paul Peggs in fourth on Financial Crisis had to endure headwinds 100 miles north of Cessna Citation until the early hours of Friday morning before finding the south-easterly breeze. The same cycle awaited Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing in fifth and the Dutch duo of Nico Budel and Ruud van Rijsewijk with Sec. Hayai in sixth.

The Fastnet Marine Insurance Leg 1 Scoring Gate represents around 40 per cent of the total distance from Palma, Mallorca to Cape Town and this fact was not lost on Miranda Merron: 'Now that we have more or less crossed the Atlantic to within a relatively short distance of the coast of Brazil, we are embarking on another transatlantic crossing to Cape Town,' she observed shortly after crossing the gate. 'There is still a very long way to go!' While the Fields took BSL around Fernando de Noronha in near-darkness, Campagne de France passed close to the island in daylight:
'They're stunning green islands,' says Merron, 'and we'd like to come back and visit sometime, since as is often the case when racing, we merely pass beautiful and interesting places and don't stop.' Since crossing the gate, both Class40s have been picking up speed, regularly trading nine and ten knots in the south-easterly breeze with Campagne de France adding a handful of miles to their lead between dawn and 15:00 GMT on Friday, separated from BSL by 28 miles.

For Halvard Mabire, the sudden proximity to land since passing through the Cape Verde Islands a week earlier was a mixed experience: 'It made me think of the Jules Verne books The Mysterious Island and In Search of the Castaways,' says the 54 year-old Frenchman.

There is, though, a slight issue with the concept of virtual obstacles on the race course: 'I've always found it odd that offshore races use these virtual marks, waypoints and gates scattered about the ocean which is, in reality, the last place of true freedom on the planet,' Mabire begins. 'Maybe I'm just a bit out of date, but it's a bit like motorway tolls and all the road signs that litter our countryside and villages,' he continues.

'There was a time when the Sailing Instruction would have been merely, 'leave Fernando to port', but now we have yet another queue to add to the supermarket checkout, airport security, customs and immigration and so on.' There is also a practical aspect to Mabire's dislike of the virtual intrusion and the narrow corridor of the scoring gate: 'We also fell into the island's wind shadow which was painful as we had the entire ocean on our doorstep,' he adds. 'However, thanks to the GOR Race Organisation for giving us the opportunity to have a look at Fernando.'

Following the frustrating days trapped in the Doldrums, the sensation of finally picking up speed on Thursday was long overdue for Colman and Ramon on Cessna Citation: 'It's still a novelty to be moving consistently and heading the right way!' reported Conrad Colman late on Thursday night. Indeed, the excitement was such that in the rush to get moving, the duo made a slight error.

Hugo Ramon explains: 'We have four water ballast tanks on the boat, two on each side,' explains the fleet's youngest co-skipper. 'When filled with sea water, the ones in the bow provide stability and inertia when there are big waves and the ones in the stern only provide stability. At most, we only fill two at the same time: bow and stern, or only bow or only stern and we only ever fill one side of the boat at a time.'

Having described the crime scene, the witness for the defence explained the offence: 'When I opened the valves to fill the windward tank, I didn't close the tap that transfers water across the boat to the leeward tank,' admits Ramon. The result was around 400 litres of water in the leeward tank. 'I noticed the boat was a bit sluggish and unresponsive,' he recalls.

The duo quickly isolated the likely cause: 'We had to tack to make the leeward tank the windward tank and drain it with gravity,' says the 26 year-old Spaniard. 'It was a bit of an error, but it wasn't complicated to resolve and it's now all sorted. Thanks heavens we worked out what the problem was.'

In fourth place, Marco Nannini and Paul Peggs with Financial Crisis broke out of prison in spectacular style on Thursday night around 12 hours after Cessna Citation found the Trade Winds: 'We finally sailed our way out of the Doldrums which lived up to their reputation until the last mile,' Nannini reported on Friday afternoon. 'Sailing at night, we were monitoring large clouds on the radar and sailed through this massive expanse about eight to ten miles across.'

The duo leapt into action: 'It was just too big to avoid, the wind piped-up to 25 knots, we took two reefs and then witnessed the most prolonged intense downpour of rain I've ever seen!' The deluge lasted for an hour: 'We sailed out of this enormous cloud, the wind went quiet for a few minutes, then like someone had hit a switch, the Trades filled in.' Since 03:00 GMT, Financial Crisis has been averaging between seven and eight knots: 'Once through and into regular winds, we set the boat on autopilot and took the opportunity to catch up on sleep as the exit from the Doldrums had been quite a lot of work,' admits Nannini. In the 15:00 GMT position poll, Nannini and Peggs trail Cessna Citation by 139 miles.

'Now we bash along in the same choppy seas the leaders had reported,' says the Italian skipper. 'Our deficit to Cessna is roughly double what it was before the Doldrums. It's a shame but still not impossible to try to close. We're not half way through yet!'

On Phesheya-Racing and Sec. Hayai, the Doldrums drama is still being played-out. The South African duo have been working through their sail wardrobe as the breeze finally starts to build: 'We hoisted the Upwind Zero and had a bit more success,' reports Phillippa Hutton-Squire. 'We started to move, matching the wind speed and by the evening we had dropped the Zero and went with the Solent as the wind had increased to over eight knots.' Leggatt and Hutton-Squire have found that the worst Doldrums squalls invariably arrive after dark and they were intent on being prepared for the worst possible conditions: 'I filled the forward ballast and we started to watch the clouds build,' explains Hutton-Squire. Both co-skippers remained on watch throughout the night: 'Before long they were enormous but not as dark-looking like the previous night,' adds Leggatt. 'We spent the night watching the wind shifts in between the light rain and by 04:00 GMT this morning, we were hard on the wind trying to exit the Doldrums and get south,' he says.

Phesheya Racing - Global Ocean Race 2011-12 - Jesus Renedo ?

In the 15:00 GMT position poll, both Phesheya-Racing and Sec. Hayai are still beating south to the elusive Trade Winds with the South Africans losing the breeze, making just under three knots and Nico Budel and Ruud van Rijsewijk - further west than Leggatt and Hutton-Squire - making six knots, trailing Phesheya-Racing by seven miles.

For those closely following the romance between the Financial Crisis mascot, Clubby the Seal, and the visiting bird, Giusy, Marco Nannini provides a final update as the on-off relationship concludes: 'She decided to leave us late yesterday afternoon,' he confirms. 'It was a bit sad to see the way she went, she slipped from the back of the open cockpit, flew in the air, then decided not come back to the boat and sat in the wide blue ocean,' Nannini continues.

'I am not sure what her prospects are miles from any land; this bird that we have since discovered lives with African cattle, an egret, definitely not a sea bird, but some species of egrets migrate, so I may be worrying unnecessarily as it may have been just a short rest in a long trip. Clubby was a bit pissed off as he had enjoyed his summer fling and all he has left is a happy photo to remember Giusy by.'