British sailor Mike Golding has sailed his Open 60 Group 4 to a record breaking victory on Leg 1 of the 1998-99 Around Alone. His official time is: 34 days 18 hours 54 minutes 44 seconds. This is 13 hours, 57 minutes and 34 seconds less than the previous record time set by Isabelle Autissier in 1994.
Autissier sailed her Open 60 PRB to 2nd place. Her time was: 34 days 21 hours 35 minutes 51 seconds. This was just 2 hours 41 minutes 7 seconds behind Mike Golding and Group 4.
Upon hitting land, Golding has this to say: ""I was in the right place at the end, I just managed to peak at the right time. I feel sorry for Marc [Thiercelin] because he had led for so much of October, and then he had sail damage and dropped back quite badly. But that's part of the game, that is what it's about -- keeping the boat together."
3rd place Somewhere is expected in Cape Town within a couple of hours. 4th and 5th place Gartmore and Fila are not expecte in Cape Town until Tuesday.
Class II is still led by Cray Valley. 105 miles back is Balance Bar, with Magellan Alpha 170 miles back. Cray Valley reports fast sailing: "300 miles on distance to Cape Town in the last 24 hours and 14-to-16 kts average speed this morning, Cray Valley is literally screaming along in these conditions." Brad Van Liew realizes Cray Valley maybe hard to catch: "I am having a nice sail and am resolved to follow JP until the weather changes a little to my favor. If it doesn't than I will get even with new rudder bearings during leg 2." Mike Garside has also found the good stuff on Magellan Alpha, surfing at 15+ knots and has this to say: "You know, as much as I hate sailing, it's times like this that make it almost bearable."
Robin Davie is sailing the rudderless South Carolina as best he can. With a speed of only 3.8 knots, it looks like this will really slow him down. Rapscallion III is next with No Barriers following. On board www.no-barriers.com Neal Petersen has a title for his next book: 'The Journey of a Hope Merchany'. He requests the following: "I need your help. I need to know what areas I need to focus on in my writing. What is important to you. Is it more sailing, isit more emotion, what is it that you want to read? How can I serve you from out here. I need your feedback. Send your short replies to NoBarriers@compuserve.com"
Golding's victory is a product of a current generation boat that is fast. More importantly Golding routed Group 4 correctly. He made no dramatic moves, but almost all of the moves were correct. Add to this a generally high standard of reliability (compared to PRB's forestay problem, and Somewhere's sail problems) and Golding and Group 4 are clearly the man of the match for Leg 1.