8:46 AM Sat 24 Jan 2009 GMT
In the first part of the Leg 2 Racing Log, the fleet had their first taste of the Southern Ocean with a string of low pressure systems battering the boats throughout Christmas.
During the following fortnight, with five boats racing after the retirement of Kazimir Partners, the leading two boats, Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Beluga Racer, begin a duel that will last for half the breadth of the Indian Ocean; Nico Budel issues a MAYDAY on board Hayai and triggers a rescue operation; Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty chases the fleet after heading west to help Budel and further damage on Team Mowgli limits the British duo's sailing performance.
Week 3: 28 December - 3 January MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
The 06:20GMT position poll on 28th January was a cause for concern: Single-hander, Nico Budel, on Open 40 Hayai, had dropped 126 miles further behind fellow solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans, on Roaring Forty in the past 24 hours and now trailed the fleet by 510 miles. The reason soon became clear when Budel contacted the Race Organisation to report that he had sustained keel damage and immediately Kleinjans was diverted to the location of Hayai. Later the same day, conditions deteriorated for Budel as the lead keel bulb began working loose from the carbon keel fin and he activated the yacht's EPIRB distress beacon at 15:45GMT.
With a MAYDAY issued, MRCC Reunion began coordinating the rescue and two commercial ships, the Nord Kraft and the CSK Radiance, were diverted to Budel's position 240 miles NNE of the Crozet Islands. The following day, MRCC Reunion stood down the Nord Kraft, Roaring Forty was allowed to continue racing and CSK Radiance closed in on Budel. While the rescue drama unfolded in the west, race leader, Beluga Racer, with German duo Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme held the lead and moved to the southernmost position in the leading edge of a low pressure centred directly over the fleet. Just under 48 hours after activating his EPIRB, Budel climbed aboard the 170,000 tonne CSK Radiance at 11:45GMT on 30th December after an immaculately coordinated rescue operation.
On New Years Eve, strong winds produced swift speeds with Felipe Cubillos and Jos? Mu?oz on Desafio Cabo de Hornos the fastest boat, averaging 13 knots just seven miles behind race leader, Beluga Racer. A cracked boom for Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson on Team Mowgli forced the British duo to reduce sail and by New Year's Day, their deficit on the race leader had increased to 346 miles. By 3rd January, the focus for the fleet became the mandatory Ice Gate at 45?S below south-western Australia and while Beluga Racer had built a 107 mile lead over Desafio Cabo de Hornos, the leaders in the double-handed division began to bunch with 150 miles separating the fleet north-south.
Week 4: 4-10 January
Sailing north of the Ice Gate, Desafio Cabo de Hornos hold the northern station, gradually eroding the lead of the German boat, reducing the deficit to 60 miles as the two Class 40s dive south-east to clip the eastern end of the gate. On January 6th, both Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty and Salvesen and Thomson on Team Mowgli are stalled by a high pressure system with the British boat dropping to 563 miles behind the leader and the Chilean team close in to 54 miles of Beluga Racer as the competition between the leading pair heats up. The following day, Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Beluga Race pull out of their dive through the Southern Ocean and level out at the same latitude as southern tip of South Island, 1,500 miles due east of the Germans. As Nico Budel is transferred by helicopter from CSK Radiance and reunited with his family in Cape Town on January 8th, there is bad news from Team Mowgli as Salvesen and Thomson report that the bow sprit has been torn from the foredeck, removing the duo's ability to fly spinnakers. Desafio Cabo de Hornos make further gains on Beluga Racer, shadowing the Germans by just 36 miles, although the northern option favoured by the Chileans proves risky and light winds south of Tasmania grip Cubillos and Mu?oz as the pair watch Herrmann and Oehme streak east, extending their lead to 99 miles by the morning of the 10th January.
Quotes from the boats:
Nico Budel, Hayai 30/12/08 From CSK Radiance
'I feel terrible, but the people are so good to me here on the ship are so good to me, although I am very sad to leave my boat. We followed her, but I have opened the sea cocks and she will sink. We had some water coming in around the keel and the bulb was hanging on by just one bolt. It really wasn't good.'
Jeremy Salvesen, Team Mowgli, 31/12/08
'We have drilled a small hole in the boom to arrest the crack. We then fashioned a Chinese windlass [marine tourniquet] to beef up the boom. It seems OK, but we will have to sail cautiously with a reef in the mainsail.'
Felipe Cubillos, Desafio Cabo de Hornos 03/01/09
'It has been blowing hard all night and the waves are the size of a 20 storey building. Our beloved boat is more of a submarine than a yacht as we surf down these huge waves and crash into the ones ahead.'
Michel Kleinjans, Roaring Forty 05/01/09 Celebrating his birthday
'Apart from a cigar, I kept my birthday sober. I am getting older, for sure!'
Boris Herrmann, Beluga Racer 06/01/09
'It's amazing how short and steep these waves are. The bow is digging underwater regularly causing the boat to wipe out. Sometimes the boat just seems to fall down the back of the wave, leaping to 20 knots, cascades of water flying everywhere, spectacular noise and epileptic moves.'
In the final instalment of the Leg 2 Racing Log, Beluga Racer and Desafio Cabo de Hornos fight 'The Battle of the Tasman Sea' all the way to the finish line and Roaring Forty and Team Mowgli are trapped in the Cook Strait.
www.portimaorace.com
by Oliver Dewar
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