Unfortunate Graham restarts

With a new keel bulb cobbled together in Brazil, the Kiwi Velux 5 Oceans skipper fights to finish leg two before deadline

At 08:30 (LMT) this morning, Graham Dalton finally left the port of Fortaleza in Brazil rejoining the Velux 5 Oceans. After an unwanted and extended pit stop Dalton has headed out to sea and is now pointing his Open 50 A Southern Man AGD towards Norfolk, Virginia and the finish line of leg two of this solo round the world race.

After pulling into Brazil to repair a damaged rudder cassette, his boat subsequently suffered loss of her keel bulb during a routine sea trial to test the newly fixed rudders. During the stopover he also had a majority of his electronics stolen.

After building a new bulb locally, the Kiwi skipper, elder brother of Emirates Team New Zealand boss, Grant, has 3,220 nautical miles to go to reach Norfolk. If he averages 10 knots then it will take approximately 13.5 days. That will have him into Norfolk on 18 April. Under the race rules, the cut-off date to arrive in the final host port before returning to Bilbao is April 19, so it will be a close race against the clock.

The remainder of the fleet is due to leave Norfolk on Sunday, April 15 on the final sprint back to the Spanish Basque Country to complete this epic solo circumnavigation.