DAY 42 - A Smooth Crossing of Cape Horn for Club Med, Innovation Explorer will not be as Fortunate
News - Saturday, 02/10/2001, 5:40 AM GMT

Position	02/10/2001 5:40 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (7552 nm from finish. Still covering 620 miles per day, less than 800 miles from Cape Horn, avg speed 24.8 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (903 nm from the leader. gybing downwind, a bucking bronco in the rough seas, avg speed 21.0 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (5039 nm from leader. Three times buried the bows in the backs of waves last night, heading north to avoid foul weather ahead, avg speed 19.3 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (6009 nm from the leader. Back in communications, in better conditions, doing 20 knots, avg speed 19.7 knots)
5th	Team Legato (6944 nm from the leader. 509 miles in 24 hours to 10:00GMT, avg speed 20.7 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

Club Med is less than 800 miles from Cape Horn, in not the most comfortable of conditions.

Dalton: "It is unbelievably wet here. Not from large amounts of water over the deck, but because it is drizzling and has been for the last two days. It is bitterly cold and everything is damp, even my elbows and sleeves. With this kind of apparent wind blowing, it just makes everything feel worse."

Dalton on the sailing conditions: "We are still on the front of this depression. It is giving us a great beam reach. Looking ahead around the corner, we have maybe a good situation developing. We are basically going to get swept around the Horn by the depression we are in, and should have fair winds all the way up the southeast side of the South American continent, as far as Uruguay anyway."

The rounding of Cape Horn signifies the end of the Southern Ocean - the end of the long seas, fierce winds, the icebergs and the cold. But there are still many challenges and storms ahead before the finish in Marseille. After more than 15 days in the southern seas, the boats will turn to the left and head into the Atlantic and the equator - towards warmth and comfort and away from cold and humidity.

When a sailor rounds Cape Horn (under sail), tradition rewards this exploit by the sailor now having the right and honour to wear a ring in his ear. A sailor that has rounded the three Capes is said to be able to 'pee to windward'.

Cape Horn, on Horn Island off the southernmost tip of Tierra Del Fuego in southern Chile, is considered the fiercest place in all the seven seas. It is one of the sailors' most feared landmarks, deep down where the Southern Ocean narrows and the wind blows as it is funneled between the land and the Antarctic peninsula.

The Horn lies at the tip of South America and extends into Drake Passage, causing the seas to build above the continental shelf, which rises steeply from the 3,999m/13,120ft deep Pacific bed. Even though the passage around the Horn can often be relatively benign, weather can very quickly turn nasty and visibility can deteriorate. In fact, many who pass the Horn never actually sea the land. It is estimated there are more than 800 shipwrecks littered around the coast.

History of the discovery of Cape Horn

Innovation Explorer is on the back of the depression and gybing downwind (the wind direction towards Cape Horn is directly downwind), they are limited by their sail inventory and rough seas. Innovation Explorer is setting up to arrive early next week, along with a deep depression that could pack storm winds of 60 knots. There is no question of going further south to make a more direct route as there is a large depression with winds in the order of 50 knots.

Elena Caputo: "The wind still comes from our old depression but there is a big low forming to the west of us and we hope to be able to be pushed east fast when it starts moving. Obviously our safest course would have been on the port gybe although it would have taken us quite a bit north, but it would not have been competitive at all. We hope not to be stuck too far south and we still want to sail close enough to the Horn for us to see it!"

Elena Caputo: "After three days, Innovation Explorer is still a bucking bronco. She is also starting to squeak and squeal in quite a spooky way as she is shoved around by waves coming a bit from every direction. Some of the noises she makes sound almost like human lamentations and it makes this grey day feel all the more sombre".

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

Team Adventure: After the calms and the crashing to windward, a really huge seaway last night where three times they buried the bows in the backs of waves, sheets let fly in a hurry...

Team Adventure is 750 miles from the southern point of New Zealand. They have gybed north to avoid the worst of an enormous depression to their south and for the approach to Cape Farawell, but this puts them at risk of the Tasman Sea anticyclone that is spreading in the Tasman Sea - this is the same anticyclone that slowed Club Med. They must manoevre between the anticyclone and the depression to their south, gybing downwind.

"There are not many birds today. I use the birds as a barometer. When they become scarce, it usually means that the barometer is falling and foul weather ahead. And that's exactly what the weather forecast is reserving for us, a lot of wind for the next two days, 50 or 60 knots of wind which would be better to steer clear of..."

Warta Polpharma, 2 000 miles from Cape Farewell, is now in the same low as Team Legato. Dariusz Drapella of Warta Polpharma has finally been able to make contact with Race headquarters, they had been having satellite problems. "It’s good to be back again on the radio, finally back to civilization. It’s nice sailing now".

Team Legato is still solidly in their favorite depression. With a 25 knot North-westerly, they are reeling in 500 miles per day and have reduced the gap behind Warta-Polpharma to 900 miles. They changed course a bit to the north and then to the north-east for a short while to navigate around a high pressure system but has now returned to her typical easterly direction.

Elena Caputo got a bit dehydrated, forgetting to drink in the excitement.

Jean-Yves Chauve, The Race’s medical consultant: "You only have to lose 2 % of your body weight - ie about three pints of water for an individual weighing 165 pounds - before the body and the mind’s capacity drops by 20 %. Similarly, a loss of 4 % results in a 40 % reduction in physical and mental capacities".

These symptoms, if not treated promptly, can lead to sudden cramps, making it impossible to work on deck. The best treatment is simply to provide the body with water, thereby re-establishing the balance.

Olivier Lozachmeur is suffering from a recurrent staphylococcus, this time on his knee.

Jean-Yves Chauve, The Race’s medical consultant: "These are microbes which settle on the skin, particularly in places where there is friction, which is often the case when wearing oilskins all the time, as the crews are at the moment in the southern latitudes".

In order to prevent this, and above all to avoid passing it on, requires strict cleanliness. This is sometimes not easy in difficult sea conditions and in race conditions.

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

Statistics as of 8.30 AM GMT Friday, February 9th

Boat	Distance Covered since Barcelona	Average Speed
Club Med	18 767.37 miles	19.64 knots
Innovation Explorer	18 295.87 miles	19.15 knots
Team Adventure	14 592.27 miles	15.27 knots
Warta-Polpharma	13 597.21 miles	14.23 knots
Team Legato	11 632.71 miles	12.17 knots

Team Philips
Pete Goss is planning to build a Team Philips 'Mk 2', he defended the radical design of the boat and the way in which he tackled his much-criticised campaign to compete in The Race: "If I did a TP2 the main ingredients would remain the same, but would be based on the wisdom that we have learned. I don't think there would be any dramatic change." Goss was adamant that the radical concept was along the right lines. "Team Philips was designed for high average speeds not high peak speeds. We always felt confident that 40 knots would be easily achievable and given that we got to 35 knots at around 60-70% of power. I am happy in my mind that we created what we were looking for. Beyond 40 knots would be impossible to predict but I am sure that we would have got there on the odd occasion. 60 knots - who knows!"

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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