Around Alone Report for November 6

Cray Valley Wins Class II in record time

At 0511 GMT this morning J.P. Mouligne finished his Class II victory on board the Finot 50 Cray Valley. Cray Valley now holds the Class II record for Leg 1, 40 days 12 hours 56 minutes and 41 seconds.   He bettered the previous Class II record by one day, 20 hours, 54 minutes.

Class II Winner Cray Valley

Before the finish Cray Valley had one final taste of life at sea.  According to J.P.:"Last night I got caught in a squall with unbelievable wind. I've never seen anything like it before. I had 60 or 70 knots [of breeze], hail, it was unreal. I tried to get the main down but it was too late. I let the halyard go but the sail was just pinned up against the spreaders. I pointed up into the wind and it started flogging, then it just split down the leech between the first and second spreaders. I took it down this morning and put on a patch. It was ugly, but good enough for the last 50 miles."

The 2nd and 3rd place yachts have again changed places.  At this time yesterday, Balance Bar still led Magellan Alpha by 6 miles.  24 hours later, Magellan Alpha leads by 18 miles.  

Magellan Alpha has gained this lead in some remarkable conditions: "Instead I've had winds up to 50 knots and I've been surfing for up to 30 minutes non-stop at 24 knots -- hanging on for grim death."   Garside has the following problems with Magellan Alpha: dodgy autopilot, no lazy jacks on his main, blown 3rd reef on the main a blown jib tack.   Due to the autopilot Garside says:"I have had to steer as much as I can to prevent these crash gybes."

Balance Bar has sailed in the same wild conditions: "The squalls associated with this wind had gusts of maybe 70 kts, but I am guessing." reports Brad Van Liew.  These squalls have led to situations such as: "Last night on a few occasions the gusts in the squalls laid the boat nearly flat in the water with boom and triple reefed main dragging."

It seems as though Magellan Alpha has the edge over Balance Bar in the heavier air.  The current situation lends itself to Magellan finishing 2nd.  Either way both  yachts should be in Cape Town within 24 hours.

Robin Davie South Carolina

Next in Class II is Rapscallion III.  On board South Carolina Robin Davie is developing sail problems.  He has dropped the main to sew it up, and the inner jib and genoa are chafing from the erratic steering of the rudderless boat.  Robin says: "I guess we just have to hope there is another 1600 very hard miles left on the clock of these  sails, furler and forestays."

Following South Carolina is www.no-barriers.com. Seems as though Neal Petersen is thoroughly enjoying himself: "This life is too short to do things not of one's choosing."  Wind of Change comes next, then Shuten Dojhi II and Paladin 2.