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Around the World of Sailing
7 February 2001
This Weeks Main Stories:
Race: 2 Oceans
The Race has evolved into a 2 ocean situation. Two boats sail
the Pacific Ocean towards Cape Horn. Three boats sail the Indian
Ocean heading for the Cook Straits between New Zealand.
The indomitable blue hulled Club Med continues in the lead.
Today Club Med's lead is 701 miles. Club Med had the most successful
24 hours, notching 532 miles.
Club Med has taken a dip towards the south sailing at 57° south
latitude. The blue Race class cat is 1980 miles from Cape Horn which
puts Grant Dalton and crew at this landmark in 4 days.
The past week has not all great for the leader. Their passage
through the Cook Straits, home waters to Grant Dalton, was not an easy
one. Dalton gave this description of a portion of the passage: "Then
as evening came on we parked and boy, did we park. We could see the
same headland and lighthouse for 12 hours and in one four hour watch
we did six miles." After finally regaining the wind, this passage
cost Dalton about 170 miles.
Dalton emerged ready with a strategy: "In the Indian, you try
to avoid the South. In the Pacific, you have to go down there, and
shorten the route to the Horn" No question Club Med is following this.
Innovation Explorer has a successful and optimistic week.
Friday came news that they had broken the 24-hour sailing record.
Previously held by Club Med, the new mark is 629 miles.
Then Sunday morning Innovation Explorer made the decision not
to stop in Wellington New Zealand. It turns out this was mostly
a strategic ruse. Loick Peyron hoped that Grant Dalton would make a
stop. With Club committed to a 48-hour stop, Peyron could have sailed
by. Cute, but not to be.
Successful for Club Med, but in the end not much of a
difference. Their deficit last Friday was 458 miles, this has now
again ballooned.
The lead boat in the Indian Ocean Team Adventure has had mixed
progress. They had a 512-mile day described by Cam Lewis: "Now we are
surfing the big ones at 30-knots-plus." They also had a 217-mile day.
Their last 24-hour distance was 312 miles, showing they are
still waiting for the wind to stoke up.
Warta Polpharma the fleet's smallest cat maintains 4th. Their
latest 24-hour run of 293 was a fleet low.
Team Legato has had her best week. The latest 24-hour distance
of 429 miles was 2nd best in the fleet. The British entry has the
distance to Warta down to 970 miles.
If Team Legato has the best trend line for the Indian Ocean
fleet, then the Pacific Ocean pair is still controlled by Club Med.
Innovation Explorer threw a world record at Club Med and ended up
further behind.
As the Vendee Globe has shown the lead has its advantages and
Club Med seems to want to keep its advantageous position.
Vendee Globe : Nearly Finished
The top 4 Open 60's in the Vendee Globe are within a week of
finishing. They are all north of the equator sailing in the North
Atlantic.
PRB leads Kingfisher by 145 miles. Sailing in strong downwind
conditions the tactical options for passing are limited. Unless there
is a breakdown PRB looks to cross the finish line 1st this weekend.
3rd place looks secure for Sill sailed by Roland Jourdain.
He has a nearly 400 mile lead on Marc Thiercelin sailing Active Wear.
As the finishes begin, it is worth looking over several points
about the race.
Before the race safety and reliability were issues of concern.
24 boats started the race. At this point 16 are still racing. This
is 66% well above the historic average of 47%. Reliability is clearly
up.
As for safety, there have been no capsizings or abandonings.
No dramatic rescues. This area also has been improved.
Dominique Wavre currently in 6th place sailing PRB noted an
offshoot of the safer boats: "In fact, paradoxically speaking as soon
as you improve the security measures of the boats, you improve their
capabilities, their overall performance."
Should Ellen Macarthur finish 2nd or 3rd she will become the
first non-French sailor to take a podium position in the Vendee.
French sailor Marc Thiercelin announced from mid ocean that
this will be his last solo around the world race. When finishes this
race it will give him a 3/3 record in finishing these grueling races.
His previous finishes were 2nd in the 96-97 Vendee and 2nd in
the 98-99 Around Alone. He is taking a radical option to try and rest
3rd and another podium finish from Roland Jourdain.
If Thiercelin should pull off a 3rd place finish he would join
fellow Frenchman Jean Luc Van Den Heede in the feat of being in the
top 3 in all his starts in around the world solo races.
Finally, a weekend finish would give Desjoyeaux a time of
93-95 days. Such a time would break even the most optimistic pre race
projection I made of a speed increase of 30% resulting in a time of
95 days!
Theme Article
Beginning with February each month ATWOS will have a monthly
theme. This month's theme is Boating Rules with an Emphasis on Rules
of the Road.
When you sail, there's a chance that one of 3 sets of boating
rules and regulations can apply. These sets of rules are:
International, Inland and State.
The International Rules were composed at the Convention on the
International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. They have
been in effect since 1977.
They are known by the abbreviation 'COLREGS'. All vessels
from countries which ratified the treaty must comply with the COLREGS.
Treaty bound nations include the United States.
These rules are "applicable on waters outside of the
established navigational lines of demarcation."
Waters inside these lines of demarcation are governed by the
Inland rules. An example is as follows: Charleston Harbor in South
Carolina is governed by COLREGS. Lake Murray near Columbia South
Carolina is governed by Inland Rules. On the Great Lakes, Inland
rules apply.
The third level of rules are made by state governments.
Regulations vary by state. Michigan regulations require PFD's to
be worn by Skiers, PWC users. Also, children under 6 must wear Type I
or II PFD. On the west side of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin only PWC
users are required to wear PFD's.
Next week we'll continue to examine rules of the road by
looking at common situations you might encounter on the water.
Featured Brokerage: Offshore 33
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