| Most boats are reported in the vicinity of the doldrums where they are
all suffering calms and scorching heat, varying with torrential rains.
Many boats had to get rid of perishable food, as the under deck tempe-
ratures reached 40 oC (104 oF) and some of the deep freezers broke down.
UBS SWITZERLAND still has a very substantial lead on the rest of the
fleet and skipper Pierre Fehlmann reconned that he was already out of
the doldrums under a relatively stable northwesterly breeze of 8-10 knts,
while most other boats are still tacking through light and shifty winds.
At 6 am GMT on friday 4/25 the ARGOS satelite reported the following
positions :
Pos. Boat Nm to go
1. UBS SWITZERLAND 2843
2. ATLANTIC PRIVATEER 2933
3. LYON NEW ZEALAND 2977
4. COTE D'OR 3007
5. DRUM 3061
ATLANTIC's position was estimated since for the last 24 hrs it's compulsory
ARGOS transponder does not appear to work, either because of an electrical
generator failure, or more likely because the skipper has decided to turn
it off for tactical reasons.
Standby for more news next week ...
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| With approx. 1600 nautical miles to go to the finish, DRUM has taken
a major decission to round the Azores high by the west, where as the
rest of the fleet stays on the shortest route to Portsmouth, that is,
via Madeira to the east of the Azores high. If DRUM wants to beet UBS
SWITZERLAND, which still has a comfortable 220 nm lead on the rest of
the fleet than that's her only chance. DRUM seems to have much better
wind than the boats to the east, but she has much further to go. Only
once the boats will be north of the 42nd parallel will we see who's
realy in the lead !
On Sunday 6 am GMT, the ARGOS satelite reported the following positions :
1. UBS SWITZERLAND 34:55 N 23:15 W 1363 nm to Portsmouth
2. ATLANTIC PRIVATEER 32:49 N 27:47 W
3. DRUM 36:17 N 32:35 W
4. COTE D'OR 33:39 N 29:20 W
5. LYON NEW ZEALAND 34:05 N 34:50 W
In proximity of the Azores high pressure zone winds are very light and
Pierre Fehlmann, skipper of UBS reported only 131 nm sailed in the last
24 hrs which, compared to the record of 385 nm/day in the roaring 40ties,
seems very little.
Provided winds pick up, as they should upon entering the Biscayan, arrival
at Portsmouth is still scheduled for Friday, May 7th (give or take a day).
This will probably be the last report before the arrival, as next week I
will be on a business trip in the UK. Maybe some racing fanatic in the UK
can pick-up from here, just get the news from the phone number in .0 ....
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I guess the world knows it already ...
"Pierre Fehlmann demonstrated that the Bruce Farr design, the "swiss made"
construction, the quality of a "high level dinghy sailor" crew and last but
not least a budget of over US$ 3 Mio. makes it possible for a land locked
country to obtain the highest level of off-shore racing honours ...
UBS SWITZERLAND finished the last leg of the Whitbread Round-the-world race
with a 500 mile lead on the rest of the fleet on friday morning, May 9th at
08:41 GMT, thereby giving her the overall victory in a new record time of 117
days. She beet FLYER ('82 victory) by 2 days and the '72 winner (forgotten the
name of the yacht) by 27 days !"
Second was COTE D'OR skippered by Eric Tabarly and third was DRUM skippered
by pop star Simon le Bond. I think LION NEW ZEALAND came afterwards, just
ahead of ATLANTIC PRIVATEER.
7 boats alltogether had finished by monday, may 12, 8:00 GMT. ESPRIT D'EQUIPE
had still 202 miles to go, but if the winds, currently at a favourable 25 knts
from the SW keep up she will win the last leg as well as finish first overall
on compensated time.
I guess there will be many epilogues and eventually the news might even hit
the US press ... from what I heared the coverage in the US wasn't exactly
great, I guess about as much as baseball in Switzerland (i.e. lines every
2 years). Everybody his thing ...
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