DAY 31 - Team Adventure in the Zone, Passes Warta Polpharma. Innovation Explorer Breaks Club Med's Cape of Good Hope to Cape Leeuwin Record
News - Tuesday, 01/30/2001, 5:44 AM GMT

Position	01/30/2001 5:44 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (Trying to avoid high en route to Cook Strait, avg speed 21.1 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (854 nm from the leader, broke record set by Club Med yesterday, still troubled by sails, avg speed 23.7 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (3766 nm from leader. Has taken over 3rd place from Wart Polpharma, covered 500 nm in 24 hrs, finally in the groove, avg speed 19.4 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (3894 nm from the leader. Behind Team Adventure as the crow flies, and slower, but is in the better position with regard to the course, avg speed 11.8 knots)
5th	Team Legato (5202 nm from the leader. Close to Roaring Forties, has made up some ground, avg speed 13.3 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

(Hr>

Latest News! Skip Novak reports broken daggerboard and other damage on Innovation Explorer.

Club Med's Dalton: "The biggest change today is we dropped the water ballast from the aft tanks, as the waves aren't quite so bad for nosediving. Last night we did our best nosedive of the trip so far, a 28-knot plant, which almost stopped us dead. If there is any good news about these nosedives, it is they are more a plow-in than a nosedive. The rudders appear to stay in the water and you don't get the feeling the boat's about to trip over itself. However, they are violent and we have been lucky no one has been injured".

"The runway to New Zealand has improved a bit today although it still depends on which weather model to believe. It all depends on where the High in the Tasman decides to set up. If it drifts North East we are fine, if it comes East we are goosed. The Great Circle Route from here to the Straits takes us really close along the West Coast of the South Island. I'm looking forward to that ..."

Club Med has problems with their halyard - it got stuck while the crew were trying to lower a small gennaker, a crew member had to climb up inside the mast and finish the manoeuvre with the wire-cutters. And Club Med has broken another padeye (the bolts on the deck). Club Med have been said to break one almost every week and spare parts will eventually run low.

So what's a padeye?

Innovation Explorer broke Club Med's record of yesterday between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin of 7 days and 18 hours - they did it in 7 days 14 hours and 10 minutes. Then they experienced an overnight slowdown, dropping to single figures.

Club Med is not expected to stop in New Zealand, as she has no emergencies. A stopover would engender a penalty of likely more than 48 hrs. Innovation Explorer will stop if they run into an emergency sail sitauation. It must be comforting to know a new gennaker is being made and will be available when needed. Don't forget that a 48 hr penalty would be imposed, so Innnovation Explorer would likely drop to 4th place - clearly if they can stick it out without stopping it is better.

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

The race of the day is between Team Adventure and Warta Polpharma. Team Adventure covered more than 500 miles run in 24 hours. Cam Lewis and Roman Paszke are almost on the same longitude (31.00 East for Cam and 30.51 East for Roman), but Warta is 300 miles farther south heading north-east. Warta Polpharma is in the better position with regard to the course, even though Team Adventure presently is going faster. But there, too, a failing wind is going to let those two boats down. They will have to wait 48 hours before getting back on a broad reach with a northerly. Warta-Polpharma is losing this duel, handicapped by her design limitations.

Team Legato is still heading south-east just inside the Roaring Forties, but making better speeds. They have managed to make up 170 nm.

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

Map images courtesy of Virtual Spectator, click here to go to The Race site for a free download of the software.

Club Med in blue Innovation Explorer is in green Warta Polpharma is yellow

Team Adventure is in orange Team Legato is in brick-red PlayStation is in orange-red

Map images courtesy of Virtual Spectator, click here to go to The Race site for a free download of the software.

Club Med in blue Innovation Explorer is in green Warta Polpharma is yellow

Team Adventure is in orange Team Legato is in brick-red PlayStation is in orange-red

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