Around Alone Report for November 2

Gartmore will be next Modern University has keel problems

Lately the focus has been on the leading skippers and thier arrival in Cape Town.  Well, the boat at the very back of the fleet, Modern University for the Humanities has developed keel boat problems.  Skipper Fedor Konioukhov's son Oscar reported:  "The bolts which are keeping the keel to the bottom of the hull are not tight.  Now, he has some quantity of water coming inside."  It seems that there are a total of 27 keel bolts on MUH.  It is only 2 that are leaking. 

Despite being advise to seek a port in Brazil to effect repair, Konioukhov will sail on.  Fedor had this to say of the situation: "There is no panic on board. I have a problem with my keel and I must find out how bad it is [before] I make a final decision on [what to do]. That may require some days, as I got this problem suddenly and I won't do anything randomly."

Cray Valley the Class II leader has closed her distance to finish to 850 miles.  She is scooting towards the finish at 11.6 knots.  J.P.'s mindset at this point it: "At this point I have to manage my lead carefully all the way to Capetown by going fast without taking unnecessary risks."  2nd place Balance Bar is 1011 miles from the finish, sailing at 10.6 knots.  1077 miles from Cape Town is 3rd place Magellan Alpha.   Garside is suffering from an autopilot shortage.  At this point Magellan Alpha's steering system is: "a rudimentary auto pilot that weaves all over the place but, fingers crossed, frees me from helming."  This pilot has been salvaged from bits and pieces of the failed ones Mike Garside has on board.

In 4th place is Robin Davie and his rudderless South Carolina.  Davie is in the process of preparing an emergency rudder.   This item is called M-Rud and fits onto the monitor wind vane self steering device.   However, "The hinge attachment piece and the safety tubes between the emergency rudder and the monitor are missing (likely left on the dock in Charleston)."  So, Robin is working on overcoming this.  A fix was procured and Robin went to get a cordless drill and bolt the mechanism together.  However, it seems as though the chargers for the batteries are also living the good life in Charleston.  Robin ended up connecting the drills directly to South Carolina's batteries.

Robin is pretty satisfied with this M-Rud.  But not completely satisfied: "still a bit wobbly, so off its come for extra stiffening and modification- got to keep a job in hand for tomorrow."  The M-Rud should allow Robin to pick up his pace to Cape Town. 

Still following South Carolina is Rapscallion III 1388 miles from Cape Town.  Next is www.no-barriers.com 1573 miles from skipper Neal Petersen's home land.  Neal commnents: "Some days Victor gains on me, other days I pull away. I cannot afford to be becalmed."  Indeed Viktor Yazykov and Wind of Change have overtaken Shuten Dojhi II.   Wind of Change is now 1753 miles from Cape Town.  In the last 6 hours, Wind of Change has gained 11 miles on No Barriers.   Finally, Paladin 2 is 2225 miles from Cape Town. 

At 1258 GMT the Class I yacht Gartmore Investment Managers finished Leg 1. Gartmore's elapsed time is: 36d, 20h, 43m, 49s.