Unai home in third

Podium finally complete on leg two of the Velux 5 Oceans

Unai Basurko on his Open 60 Pakea, crossed the finish line of leg 2 of the Velux 5 Oceans at 19:20 local time (23:20 UTC) last night. The Basque skipper arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, USA after 68 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes at sea and 15,554.57 miles of racing to take third place. The podium finish shows an improving performance in the Velux 5 Oceans for the sailor from Bilbao, which will be the final port of call for the race at the end of April when the fleet returns to where all the action began back in October 2006.

Speaking on the dockside, Basurko commented: "It has been a very difficult leg and we are very pleased to be here. To finish second or third is important but most important is to finish. When you finish you have everything. When sailing in the Southern Ocean and you round Cape Horn and you are tacking up the Atlantic and you arrive here and you finish - you feel so proud, it is fantastic.

"This year was very hard in the Southern Ocean, with many cold fronts and very windy, but also very beautiful as well. The Atlantic has been very strategically difficult and the race has been very tiring. I am looking forward to some down time with my friends and family and getting the boat ready for the next leg.

"It is very close between me and Sir Robin but I know the North Atlantic very well and I am looking forward to the next leg. It will be very special for me to arrive in Bilbao. But before you finish anything is possible and it is so important to finish. I am very happy with myself because I know I do my best and I know Robin is doing his best also. But I can say it: I will be waiting for Robin with good wine in Bilbao!”



The podium finish will propel Basurko from fifth to third place in the overall results. After the leg one, Unai was over five days behind Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who finished third. However, with Saga Insurance still over 1,000 miles from the finish, the Basque skipper should guarantee that he moves past Knox-Johnston and Graham Dalton in the overall results, prior to the final sprint home.

The second leg from Fremantle to Norfolk presented a number of problems for Basurko. First he battled with strong winds and large seas immediately after leaving Western Australia and he initially headed due west to put Pakea in the best position to round Cape Leeuwin at the southwest corner of Australia. When Sir Robin turned back to Fremantle to repair his autopilot systems, Unai moved up to fourth as the rest of the fleet headed south to the great Australian Cape. He then took an unusual northerly route through the Great Australian Bight, which left his Pakea over 500 miles behind the leader Stamm by day three. By day six he was overtaken by Saga Insurance, dropping hiim back to last place, although he would reclaim fourth only two days later.

Pakea became locked in a close battle with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston as they approached the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, often separated by only a few hundred miles. When Graham Dalton was forced to make a pit stop in his native New Zealand to replenish his ruined food stores, Pakea moved into third place (on day 16), although by now over 2,000 miles behind the leader Stamm who was blasting through the icy expanses of the Southern Ocean. When Dalton re-joined the race track after 48 hours, the last three yachts were all closely positioned and set up for a tight drag race towards Cape Horn.

The Basque skipper managed to hold off his adversaries across across the Pacific section of the Southern Ocean, however, just prior reaching the tip of South America Sir Robin Knox-Johnston overtook him to move up into third. However, immediately after passing the Horn Sir Robin was forced to make a pit stop in Ushuaia to repair essential communications equipment handing third place back to Unai on a plate.

Rounding Cape Horn for the first time was made all the harder with rain and winds of 45 knots. With Knox-Johnston pulling into Argentina, Unai’s remaining competitor in close proximity, Graham Dalton, also fell behind as he too was forced to make a pit stop in the Falkland Islands in order to re-fuel. His risky tactic of sailing through the St Helena High Pressure System paid huge dividends. While Basurko was still 1,000 miles behind the Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi in second, he developed a comfortable distance between the two back markers in the South Atlantic and never again rescinded third as he pushed towards Norfolk and crossed the equator.

Basurko set some impressive speeds in the North Atlantic despite a number of set backs, including a close encounter with two whales and a broken halyard. He also had no masthead wind instruments after it had been torn from the mast head early in the Pacific Ocean. Basurko was consequently unable to provide his autopilots with the vital wind direction data.




Safely arrived in Norfolk, Basurko was met by friends, family and shore team, as well as local supporters and will take time to rest and repair Pakea before taking her home. Norfolk will play host to the Velux 5 Oceans throughout March and April as the other skippers arrive, with the yachts moored in downtown Norfolk at the waterfront marina in the heart of the city. The yachts will set off on the final leg of the round the world race to Bilbao on 15 April, with a spectacular send off in Norfolk and the Chesapeake Bay ahead of the start of the Azalea Festival (NATO festival) and the 400 year celebrations of the Jamestown landings.



This morning Sir Robin Knox-Johnston reports: “We are now north of the Windward Islands and entering the area known which has become known as the Bermuda triangle, notorious for unsolved disappearances, if you want to believe that nonsense. There are far more mysterious disappearances within 15 miles of Dover.

"Unai (Basurko) finished yesterday at 2320 GMT, so I have to finish by next Thursday at 0523 GMT for us to be equal going into the last leg. That probably won't happen as there is a low pressure system developing east of Norfolk which will bring northerly winds, headwinds, in 2 days time which will slow Saga Insurance down, but the wind is already down from yesterday so our speed has suffered a little already...

"Still we did our best 24 hour run yesterday, just under 310 miles, an average of almost 13 knots and had drawn up to 1,398 miles behind as Unai finished so we had gained a little on him over the last week. This is where those five days lost dealing with the poor wiring on the autopilots (in Fremantle) and the two non-functioning satellite systems (in Ushuaia) take their toll. But until I cross the line who knows what the gap will be, or, indeed, what might happen in the last leg, so there is still everything to play for.

"Saw my first Sargasso weed yesterday, just a small string, not a large spread like you might expect further east."