Stamm puts his foot down

As Alex Thomson experiences furling problems in the Velux 5 Oceans

Thursday November 2nd 2006, Author: James Boyd, Location: none selected

Images courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and ProGRIB
 
Positions at 0530GMT
 
Pos
Yacht Skipper
Latitude
Longitude
Crs
Spd
DTF/L
DTL/C
Av spd
Av crs
Av spd
last sched
24 hrs
1
Cheminees Poujoulat Bernard Stamm
14° 30.04 N
025° 43.92 W
158
10
9148
12.42
273
9.77
2
Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi
20° 35.88 N
024° 44.44 W
204
7
369
-141
4.2
257
3.99
3
Ecover Mike Golding
22° 45.68 N
022° 31.68 W
213
9
515
-33
7.5
236
8.4
4
Hugo Boss Alex Thomson
24° 10.64 N
020° 44.24 W
178
8.3
619
-20
9.55
255
9.13
5
SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
34° 44.92 N
016° 43.28 W
175
6.2
1288
-77
5.82
278
7.14
6
A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton
35° 56.56 N
017° 24.04 W
182
10
1347
-39
6.14
232
9.14
7
PAKEA Unai Basurko
41° 53.76 N
014° 17.16 W
274
9.1
1732
-138
8.59
174
9.09
 
After the meanderings of the last few days so now past the Cape Verde islands, Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat is into favourable breeze and is putting miles on those chasing him. In particular he has gained 141 miles over second placed Kojiro Shiraishi's Spirit of Yukoh.

The weather in the north Atlantic is still being dominated by a substantial depression centred today some 670 miles due west of Gibraltar and the enormous high pressure the Route du Rhum boats are currently enjoying over on the west side of the North Atlantic. It is a very southerly lobe off this latter system that appears to be affecting the lead boats - Stamm is now to the south of this ridge sailing in building northeasterlies which Kojiro will see the shift around to the northeast this afternoon.

The gains Stamm has made have been less over third placed Mike Golding on Ecover and fourth place Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss. both at present mid-way between the Canary Islands and the Cape Verdes reaching on starboard tack in 10-15 knots of breeze. Both will have to endure the same light patch as Koji has been experiencing before they too get the shift. On a more positive note the shift and build in breeze to the south of the ridge should happen faster and Golding at least should be through by this afternoon enabling him to make up ground. At present he is closing fast on his Japanese rival.

In this morning's radio a depressed-sounding Alex Thomson admitted he was having some serious issues with his solent - the principle sail he uses in 10-25 knots of wind. At present the sail will not furl and this is due to an issue with the fixed PBO rod used as a stay for the sail. The rod has a resin impregnated aramid covering which is supposed to prevent the stay from twisting so that when the furling line attached to the Karver furling drum at the bottom of the stay is pulled the top of the sail follows. The reason this isn't happen may be due to torsion in the stay or that the new Solent doesn't have enough friction with the stay.. The original Solent, destroyed in the huge winds the boats experienced shortly after the start, was fitted with spectra hanks and a luff pocket while the new sail built in La Coruna only has hanks.

Thomson said today that he had discovered the problem when he had tried to furl the sail in 30 knots. The situation isn't critical to the perfomance of the boat but represents a significant safety issue in stronger winds if the British skipper is unable to furl the sail. Thomson will have make a trip aloft sometime in the next 24 hours - probably when the wind abates later - to see what is happening at the top of the stay. The solent is permanent hoisted and is furled when not in use and so is lashed at the head. If the furling problem can't be fixed Thomson is likely to end up having to drop the sail the old fashioned way by cutting the lashing and using the stay for the jib top.

In a message to the race organisation yesterday, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on Saga Insurance described a frustrating Monday night off the coast of Portugal: "A dispiriting night with very little wind. Currently almost flat becalmed and it is so breathless that the mainsail does even curl properly. Wind speed 0, boat speed 0. There is some high-level cloud above though which indicates activity somewhere, just not sure where."

In a satellite phone call to the race office Graham Dalton was in fighting mood: "I'm hunting Robin at the moment and he's going to get a surprise when my bowsprit appears off his transom at sunset today.. Onshore, we're the best of friends, but out here they're the enemy. All they'll get from me is a taste of cold steel."

Spanish competitor Unai Basurko left La Coruna early yesterday morning after sitting out his 48 hour penalty for putting in to fix a problem with his autopilots. With the depression lying to the west of Portugal he has set off on a due west heading, around 90degrees to the race course, in order to loop around the top of the depression into the northerly winds on its eastern side.

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