Sir Robin home

Saga Insurance secures fourth place into Norfolk in Velux 5 Oceans

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, onboard his Open 60 Saga Insurance, crossed the finish line of leg 2 in the Velux 5 Oceans at 19:43 local time (23:43 UTC) last night. The sailing legend, reached Norfolk, Virginia after 75 days, 18 hours and 43 minutes at sea and 16,049 miles of racing on a leg where he celebrated his 68th birthday.

Speaking on the dockside upon his arrival, Sir Robin commented: "This leg has been a nightmare but I am just pleased it’s over. I thought that it might be over two days ago, but the weather decided otherwise. I think Unai has been in church praying for adverse winds for me.

"There has been some fabulous days sailing sitting on the boat and she’s sailing along beautifully, nice wind and the sea is sparkling in the sun and you just think this is wonderful and I wouldn’t swap this for anything and I wouldn’t if I was cruising but I wasn’t I was racing so I find it frustrating.

"No regrets but I don’t feel I am really succeeding so I may have to find another one. I think I have been very frustrated. Sailing great, but racing no - I have been really frustrated.”

“Let’s see what happens in the next leg as I have Unai to take care of.”

Leg two pushed Sir Robin to the very extremes of his physical and emotional reserves and despite his natural strength and determination for a man of his age, the British Knight arrived in Norfolk on the edge of complete exhaustion. Ambulances and doctors were on hand to greet Saga Insurance to provide assistanc.

After an amazing effort by his shore team in Fremantle (Western Australia) to get the Open 60 ready after a long and tough journey from Bilbao on leg one, Sir Robin made a great start and crossed the line in second, a few feet behind defending champion Bernard Stamm. However, just 50 miles into leg two Sir Robin identified a major problem with his autopilot and decided to head back to shore. Although the power problem was quickly fixed, he is forced to sit out the mandatory 48 hour penalty and watch the fleet power away towards Cape Leeuwin.

Saga Insurance re-started over 250 miles behind her closest competitor, Unai Basurko. However, further technology issues with the Iridium and Fleet 77 satcoms meant that Sir Robin was unable to receive weather information, a major setback forcing him to sail more conservatively throughout the Southern Ocean. He further discovered that the one of his furlers was damaged (bent), and as a result he could use no reachers. Despite all the issues, after only seven days Sir Robin was just seven miles away from Pakea and close to 500 miles behind Dalton’s A Southern Man-AGD.

The end of January brought squalls and strong gales as Sir Robin battled with more breakages and at the same time tried to focus on chasing down the fleet. As well as dealing with an oil leak, flooded ballast tanks, a torn solent and interminable computer problems, he lost one of the two life rafts. 2,000 miles from Cape Horn and deep in the Southern Ocean, after nearly a month at sea, he finally succeeded in stealing fourth place. However, as he approached the infamous tip of South America, Knox-Johnston announced that he needed to stop in Ushuaia (Argentina) as he could not carry on without detailed weather information.

On 18 February, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston rounded Cape Horn for the third time in his career and Saga Insurance faced harsh conditions, with over 40 knots of wind. After his mandatory 48 hours on land, he charged into the Atlantic and regained fourth position as Graham Dalton pulled into the Falkland Islands to re-fuel. As Saga Insurance passed close to the remote British outpost, HMS Edinburgh made a special rendez-vous, a pleasant surprise for Knox-Johnston as he chased down Basurko a few hundred miles north.

The Atlantic stretch of leg two marked a frustrating and exhausting period for Sir Robin, who was plagued by unpredictable and variable weather patterns, and the famous sexagenarian began to feel the effects of fatigue and sleep deprivation. As Bernard Stamm arrived in Norfolk, the sole remaining British skipper was over 5,000 miles behind him in the extreme heat of the tropics. On 17 March, St Patrick’s Day, Sir Robin celebrated his 68th birthday alone at sea, celebrating with whiskey and the joy of crossing the equator. Only days before, Sir Terry Wogan announced that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston had been awarded 'Oldie Seadog of the Year' to celebrate his outstanding achievement. Some good news as Saga Insurance battled north.

Sir Robin was greeted on the dockside by Karen Scherberger, from Festevents representing the City of Norfolk, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope KCB OBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization - based in Norfolk) and Al Roper from the Towne Point Yacht Club who were delighted to welcome him to the city of Norfolk where Sir Robin will be looking forward to a well earned rest over the next two weeks.

With Sir Robin Knox-Johnston the fourth skipper of the Velux 5 Oceans to arrive in Norfolk, the fleet is all but complete, except for the unfortunate Graham Dalton. The tenacious Kiwi skipper was forced to seek land three times during the second leg, and now finds himself in Brazil without a keel bulb. The rest of the skippers will recover in Virginia until the fleet sets off for the finish in Bilbao on 15 April.