BT Global Challenge - Leg 3 - 23rd January 2001

madforsailing's diary writer Andy Magrath gets that winning feeling...

madforsailing is following the BT Global Challenge through the diaries of Conrad Humphreys (skipper) and Andy Magrath (crewman) aboard LG FLATRON.
Andy Magrath, LG FLATRON;

What a finish and what a race! 7000 miles from Buenos Aires to Wellington around Cape Horn taking 37 days.

The finish was just incredible. We experienced 73 knots of wind across the deck as we approached New Zealand. Flying along under no 3 yankee and storm staysail.

With about 24 hrs to go we were 20 miles behind Olympic and 9 miles ahead Compaq. I guess that everyone at home thought that we were safe in second place, beating Compaq which was all we needed to keep the overall lead. However our 'never say die' attitude on FLATRON pulled us through.

We were getting the latest positions every three hours and we were catching Olympic! We were in sight of land with only 30 miles to the finish and we spotted the orange trysail of Olympic. Not only could we see them but clearly we were going to pass them. They had blown their no 3 yankee. We sailed by to windward. Unbelievably we were going to win the leg!

We arrived in Wellington Harbour last Tuesday to a fantastic welcome. All of us absolutely shattered from our experience! It was a personal goal of mine to sail around Cape Horn and now I have! I have had my first Southern Ocean experience and I am looking forward to the next 16000 miles of the race.

Now it is time for some rest and relaxation. We have finished our port arrival jobs list and a couple of us are off travelling to the South Island of New Zealand tomorrow. We will be back on the boat by the 6th of Febuary to start our race preparations for the next leg.