DAY 54 - The Doldrums did not dull the blue boat, Innovation Explorer did not go East, Warta Headboard problems Repaired, Team Adventure Catching Warta, Team Legato Leaves Wellington
News - Thursday, 02/22/2001, 5:36 AM GMT

Position	02/22/2001 5:36 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (3178 nm from finish. Crossed equator (29W) and heading for home, avg speed 13.3 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (1048 nm from the leader. Changed course and following 'in Club Med's wake', avg speed 21.8 knots)
3rd	Warta Polpharma (6681 nm from the leader. Headboard problems slow progess to Cape Horn, avg speed 16.9 knots)
4th	Team Adventure (6783 nm from leader. Set to pass Warta before the Horn, avg speed 23.2 knots)
5th	Team Legato (8078 nm from the leader. Has left Wellington at 20:00 GMT with only six crew, avg speed 2.6 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

Estimated arrival dates
Club Med - around March 3rd
Innovation Explorer - around March 5th
Team Adventure - between March 18th and March 24th
Team Legato and Warta-Polpharma afterwards.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Trades blow from the southeast, and in the Northern Hemisphere, from the northeast. In between, a little north of the Equator, there's usually a region known as the Doldrums, where there's nothing - the Doldrums literally translates to 'the dull storm', and has proved the undoing of many sailors through the centuries.

Club Med cruised across the equator today, and passed from one Trade wind region to the other without slowing down. The Doldrums did not dull the blue boat.

Skip Novak on Innovation Explorer: "we did have an option to go further east through the doldrums, but we are not electing to do that. The satellite pictures of the doldrums appear a lot wider the further east you go. We are now obliged to follow Club Med's tracks crossing the doldrums at around 31 West. We have lost a lot of the advantage of easting, so know we will have to follow in their wake."

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, Cam Lewis: "Lots of serious water flying about on deck. Seas are OK. They were much more user-friendly earlier today. Then we got a huge cross sea and had to slow down from 30-plus knots. We also filled the aft ballast tanks. We had both full for a while and took a couple of big bumps as front beam got washed good a few times. There is a new leak in the aft port ballast fill hose. The water flooded the floor in the communications room. Junky hose is my guess, as we have had other pinhole leaks in the system. Jacques [Vincent] greased the mast step and we will keep doing this on a daily basis to avoid the squeaking, as well as the time and expense of craning the mast up to clean the ball each time we stop."

Team Legato has left Wellington with a crew of six. Tony Bullimore is still optimistic and hopes to do his utmost to catch up with Warta-Polpharma. For the moment he's sailing in 14 knots of wind but needs to escape post haste from a large anticyclone that's forming.

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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