DAY 51 - Warta Polpharma Back Under Way, Team Adventure Departs Wellington With one Less Crew, Team Legato Stopping in Wellington for Medical Reasons
News - Monday, 02/19/2001, 6:45 AM GMT

Position	02/19/2001 6:45 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (4290 nm from finish. Close to Brazil coast - have escaped the Saint Helena's High, avg speed 17.5 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (920 nm from the leader. Further east, slowed in Mid Atlantic high, avg speed 14.1 knots)
3rd	Warta Polpharma (6624 nm from the leader. Has left Wellington after satellite repairs, avg speed 16.4 knots)
4th	Team Adventure (7067 nm from leader. Left Wellington at 2 AM GMT, Yann Elies bows out with serious back injury, avg speed 3.1 knots)
5th	Team Legato (7084 nm from the leader. Stopping in Wellington - three crew need medical help, avg speed 2.9 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

Club Med: They are now about 1000 miles from the equator, and have reached the southeast trade wind section of the South Atlantic. Having escaped the St Helena high and kept close to the Brazilian coast.

Dalton: "We are now sailing on starboard tack with one reef in the main and the Solent set. The wave pattern and the wind will slowly clock aft as we head north, and this will only allow us to sail faster and faster. We are pulling 13 miles an hour on Innovation Explorer at the moment. He is very far to the east down there. I don't know how it will pan out for them, but I know that we are at 23 degrees north and he is at 39 degrees north. That is over 900 miles in latitude. "

Innovation Explorer is suffering in light winds in the Saint Helena's High.

Elena Kaputo: "The past 12 hours have been slow but OK. The wind varies between 10 and 15 knots. The boat speed is slightly higher than that. We are beating but the sea is quite nice. It's relatively flat. It was very light yesterday evening. It was literally two knots of wind, the boat flopping at three knots. "

"We still have a few problems with a mysterious infection that's going around, people's hands getting little blisters that then lead to swollen hands. We still haven't figured out quite what it is. There's a few people still on antibiotics, and they just have to do their course. We have a French remedy on board which seems to be quite effective. It's special clay that seems to be efficient. Roger was a bit worried about the antibiotic stock, because Yves first had his stitches, and then had to have another course for his hand. 'Mouette' [Oliver Lozamacheur] had the blisters first on his hand and then his knee. Then there was Xavier [Dagault] with his 'problem'. Skip now has an infected blister on his wrist. I think Julien [Cressant] is taking antibiotics as well. That's the major usage we've made, otherwise we haven't used much of the medical kit at all."

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 left Wellington Saturday, replacing the defective Satcom system. They have 14 hours of time credit that will be applied at the end of the race for the two unpenalized stops.

Team Adventure left the dock in Wellington at 2:20 AM GMT Monday and slowly exited Cook Strait, they have set off for the Southern Expressway with one less men on board. French crewman Yann Elies has withdrawn - he was told by local doctors his back injury - a herniated slipped disk, was not up to the rest of the voyage. Elies had been taking painkillers for a week before the boat docked in New Zealand.

Lewis: "We are extremely sorry to lose Yann, he is a valuable member of the crew and a great shipmate. We fully understand and support his decision not to sail with us on the way home, and we look forward to having him join us on future races."

The repairs to the yacht's crossbeam took longer than the 60 hour penalty, their departure had to be delayed by another 24 hours but they are underway now.

Lewis: "The boatbuilders have done an outstanding job and will finish within the penalty period. However, we still have a lot of cleanup to complete, including restoring the forward trampoline, part of which was removed to give the builders access to the damaged area. Our crew is reduced in size and it is important we have the boat in tip-top shape for the voyage around the other half of the world. The leaders are 6,000 miles ahead and in another ocean, and there is nothing to be gained from pushing too hard at this stage."

Technicians from France Telecom also completed work on replacing the boat's Satcom unit, while a giant crane lifted the 46m/150ft wing mast 60cm/2ft in the air to allow the crew to clean and lubricate the rotator ball at its foot.

He has little to gain in terms of The Race and may well be using the rest of this voyage as a precursor to a summer of record-breaking runs around the world.

Team Legato was making nine knots in flat water and a light evening breeze when they entered Cook Strait at dusk (local time on Saturday), but then once in the Strait had no wind at all, they were expected in Wellington at 23:00 GMT Sunday. Bullimore informed Race headquarters at that time he would pull into Wellington, but not for the expected repairs to the damaged satellite system but that three of the boat's crew required medical assistance.

We saw maybe half a dozen BT Challenge boats [which had left Wellington for Sydney]. They were getting away trying to get out into open water, but with not much wind. We were all drifting around together.

Navigator Jason Owen and crewman Armand Coursoden suffered back injuries a week ago when Legato nose-dived into a giant Southern Ocean wave. Olivier Cusin is suffering from severe toothache and needs treatment.

John Carl, the Harbourmaster at Wellington has arranged for a doctor to examine the two when the British catamaran gets to the New Zealand capital probably around mid-day local time. He will also check over Frenchman Olivier Cusin who is suffering from a bad toothache.

That means Legato will dock under the health and safety no-penalty ruling provided the crew does not step ashore or receive outside assistance other than medical help. They cannot receive any non-medical outside help on the boat or take on fresh food.

Team Legato: a giant wave washed the Satcom B transmitter off the stern of their port hull today. The satellite transmitter is used to send daily TV video feeds from the boat back to The race headquarters in Paris which are then distributed to the media worldwide.

Race organisers are racing to get a third unit flown down to the New Zealand capital to reach there on Sunday afternoon to coincide with Team Legato's arrival. If it does not arrive in time, then Team Legato has the option of sailing on to Cape Horn and picking up a new transmitter in the Falkland Islands instead.

The crew will not be penalised for the pit-stop but are not allowed to step ashore, gain outside assistance or take on stores and food.

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

[Print]    [Close] E-mail: Webmistress Copyright ©Xavier Innovations Ltd. All rights reserved