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Around Alone Report for November 25

Davie finishes

Sailing South Carolina to South Africa in Leg 1 of Around Alone Robin Davie had some problems.  For instance, his alternator (1st nite), auto pilot (1st week) and water ballast pump (3rd day) all broke.  And that was in the first week !  Later he broke his rudder and his forestay. 

Davie said upon finishing, "We were pretty unprepared" and unfortunately for him it showed throughout the 6800 miles of Leg 1.  Davie sailed Leg 1 in 58 days 22 hours 11 minutes and 39 seconds an average speed of 4.81.  However Davie carried a 272 hour penalty for completing his qualifying sail after the deadline, making his official leg time 70 days 6 hours 26 minutes and 9 seconds.

Davie's leg will be remembered for the loss of his rudder.  It occurred at night.  Davie remember the night this way: "It was a dark, squally night. The boat rounded up and I tried to get it back on course. But no matter what I did, it wouldn't go around. It wouldn't tack, jibe, nothing. I took down the sail but the bloody boat just wouldn't turn. I went below and checked the steering and it was okay. After an hour old dumbo here thought, 'maybe there's no rudder." 

Once Davie knew the rudder was gone, he was still OK.  South Carolina is equipped with a Monitor Wind Vane.   This self steering apparatus comes with an emergency rudder for just such a situation.  The manufacturer admits this is just the situation they designed the MRUD for: "Our challenge was to be able to convert the Monitor aboard a 50 foot BOC boat into a true emergency rudder."

In sticking with his theme of difficulty Davie was missing crucial pieces of the MRUD.  While he improvised and fabricated pieces, he used a bucket for steering.  Finally Davie got the MRUD working via his autopilot's hydraulic ram.  Race Director Mark Schrader called MRUD/Autopilot hook up "the most amazing lash up, a cat's cradle of lines, sticks, Spanish windlasses, counterweights...it's just amazing. I'm sorry all this happened to Robin, but I can't think of anyone better equipped to deal with it."

Now Robin has less than 2 weeks to prepare South Carolina for the Southern Ocean.  A partial description of his plans for Cape Town read like this: "The jobs to be done and services needed to accommodate the jobs stretch from welding and fabrication, to electrical, electronic, structural fibreglassing  - engine and alternator installation and repairs,and changes to the water, fuel and plumbing systems on the boat."

Still on the way to Cape Town are Paldin 2 and Modern University for the Humanities.  Paladin 2, the fleets 3rd and final 40 footer is 203 miles from Cape Town. This equates to a early morning Friday arrival, 1 day before the deadline. 

Modern University for the Humanities is 408 miles from Cape Town.  Her latest ETA shows 0209 29 November.  This is a mere 2 hours 9 minutes after the deadline.  Surely Fedor Konioukhov is at the helm trying to sail 2 hours faster !