DAY 23 - Team Adventure in Cape Town
News - Monday, 01/22/2001, 5:58 AM GMT

Position	01/22/2001 5:58 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (Stretching lead in Indian Ocean, avg speed 20.2 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (830 nm from the leader. Now in second place, cutting the corner, avg speed 21.4 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (1103 nm from the leader. Has arrived in Cape Town, 3 crew are fine, repairs to start, avg speed 9.7 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (2571 nm from leader. Good speed east, track further north of the Ollier ships, avg speed 16.4 knots)
5th	Team Legato (3488 nm from the leader. Skirting the high, avg speed 9.2 knots)
6th	PlayStation (6605 nm from the leader. RETIRED, In Antigua)

Club Med is benefitting from stable conditions with 25 knot winds from the west/south-west. The seas are smoother, the waves are longer. They are sailing close-hauled, heading further south Club Med. They should reach South Africa's Prince Edward Islands tomorrow morning (Antarctic islands well to the south of Madagascar). They will pass to the north of the Prince Edward Islands and the Crozet Islands.

Innovation Explorer has taken over second position and is two degrees more south than Club Med. Loïck Peyron is trying to cut the corner.

Olivier Lozachmeur (Innovation Explorer): "Another two battens broken this morning. We are doing 28 knots. We're going to have to wait for it to calm down a bit before changing them. A rather strong wave also ripped off and carried away the life raft hatch located under the port net. Nothing serious, but it does give you an idea of the force of the waves when we hit them at full speed."

Team Adventure has arrived in Cape Town. The three injured crew have been taken to hospital.

Mikael Lundh was injured in a fall while crossing the trampoline. He suffered a sprained neck and is wearing a neck brace as a precaution. Lundh has a strained tendon in his neck and will wear a neck brace while he convalesces.

Jeffrey Wargo suffered a bruised pelvis, when he was thrown forward in the galley. Wargo suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae. He must restrict his physical movements for the next two or three weeks but is expected to fully recover after two or three months.

Philippe Peche, split the inside of his mouth when he swallowed his flashlight on the impact, but he is okay.

Results of medical assessment at Claremont Hospital in Cape Town are that Jeffery Wargo and Mikael Lundh will not be able to return to the boat due to the strenuous physical challenge of sailing on the 110-foot catamaran.

Members of the Cape Town Sea Rescue Team, which met the boat outside Cape Town, initially treated both men. They were then examined by Dr Peter Sandell after the boat docked in the inner harbor.

Because the rules of The Race permit no crew substitutions, skipper Cam Lewis must now decide whether to continue racing with 12 crew instead of 14, once repairs have been completed.

Repairs to the boat will begin in the morning. Two teams of builders led by Yann Penformis (lieutenant to Gilles Ollier who designed the boat and is the boss of Multiplast, the builder) are already on site and will work in shifts round the clock in order to repair the damage as quickly as possible. A large quantity of water has soaked in where the carbon has delaminated.

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

Innovation Explorer is in turqoise Club Med in yellow Team Adventure is green

PlayStation is in red Warta is orange Team Legato is blue

Warta Polpharma is heading easterley dramatically more north that the tracks of Innovation Explorer, Club Med and Team Adventure, and is trying to squeeze between two high pressure zones, one to the north and one to the south, where there is little wind.

Team Legato is picking its way through a series of high pressure systems traversing west-east across the South Atlantic. They are being affected by the St. Helena high, as can be seen by her lower speed of 9.7 knots.

"We have chosen a southerly course 270 miles to the east of the Polish boat to cut the corner out of the Atlantic. Our aim is to jump on the top of one of these revolving high pressure systems and let it slingshot us down into the Southern Ocean." Owen explained.

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

PlayStation has been in Antigua for the past 13 hours. They will depart later today for Miami.

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