End of DAY 35 - Innovation Explorer Did NOT Stop
News - Saturday, 02/03/2001, 22:09 PM GMT

Position	02/03/2001 22:09 PM GMT
1st	Club Med (10828 nm from finish. Stretching her legs after exiting from Cook Strait, 17.5 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (560 nm from the leader. Reached Cook Strait, taking time to carry out repairs, losing a bit of ground as now they are in the Strait, avg speed 12.8 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (4177 nm from leader. Good speed - heading for the Tasman Sea, avg speed 23.1 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (4240 nm from the leader. Blocked by a high, forced to coverm ore ground to skirt it, passing Kerguelen Islands, avg speed 13.0 knots)
5th	Team Legato (6171 nm from the leader. Excellent progress, gaining on Warta Polpharma, avg speed 18.1 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

Innovation Explorer has finally made the team decision, to NOT stop in Wellington. Being so close to Club Med and having gained so much ground, it would have been painful to give up 48 hours when they are so close.

Elena Caputo: "As you may have noticed, we have been slowed down for long periods recently. Everyone aboard was involved in a thorough survey of the boat to see what they could repair themselves to avoid stopping in Wellington. They took up the daggerboard, reversed it and cut away the damaged section. We will live with this handicap".

From now on Innovation Explorer has one daggerboard shorter than the other). In spite of this, the co-skippers and the crew unanimously decided that they could finish The Race with the daggerboard in its current state. They have also put together the broken pieces of the damaged protective screen over the cockpit, which has been strengthened. That’s not all - the crew has also taken advantage of the slowdown to finish off some other minor repairs.

Innovation Explorer hinted during the week that they would stop in Wellington to make repairs, however it now appears it may have been a ruse designed to get Club Med to also stop in Wellington for repairs, and/or to slow down the grind with thoughts of gaining another 48 hours lead. Club Med had no need to stop, since there were no severe repairs needed, and the penalty to stop when there is no urgency is in fact greater than 48 hours, subject to the decisions of the race committee.

Club Med is now benefitting from a depression with consistent winds from the north-west that is carrying them straight to Cape Horn, 4000 miles away.

700 miles after the Kerguelens, Team Adventure is attacking the second half of the Indian Ocean at full speed, 21.4 knots of average speed. Cam Lewis is heading a bit north of his previous north-east trajectory so that they can remain to the north of the depression and in the southerly winds of 25 knots.

Warta-Polpharma is following a strange path, zigzagging because of the light wind conditions looking for breeze, with an average speed of 14 knots.

Ideally positioned to the north of a small depression, Team Legato has passed the 40th parallel and is making excellent ground at greater than 20 knots of boat speed in westerly breeze.

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

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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