Day 204 – Van Den Heede regains the initiative… for now

Leader within 1,000 miles of finish. ETA – 31st January
Kopar’s challenge for 3rd place runs out of steam
Lehtinen battles with Southern Ocean storms
Accusations of illegal weather routing and position reporting lack evidence
Van Den Heede and Slats dropped from Ham radio broadcasts

Dateline: 14:00 UTC 21. 01. 2019 – Les Sables d’Olonne, France

The elastic between Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Mark Slats has stretched in the Frenchman’s favour over the weekend allowing him to open up a 215-mile lead over his Dutch rival. A week ago, the difference in terms of distance to finish was just 28 miles. Both skippers have used up what remained of their 160 litre supply of diesel fuel, with Slats expending the last drop pushing his way through the windless high pressure system sitting over the Azores. The two are now within the same weather system.

Slats is currently 330 miles south of Van Den Heede’s upwind position at the start of what could be a straight drag race to the finish. The unknown factor is the forecast – especially for these two skippers, for both have been cut off from weather feeds from the Ham Radio Net community for using unlicensed call signs throughout the Race. This came to light last week when Dutch and St Lucia radio authorities issued warning notices against the skippers. Licenced Ham radio operators who communicate with them not only face losing their licences, but the threat of a large fine and possible prison sentence!

Forecasting is particularly acute for Van Den Heede whose Rustler 36 Matmut has the prospect of running straight into another high pressure system predicted to form to the north east by Wednesday. It could affect Slats too, but not before his yacht Ophen Maverick has closed the distance.

The question then for Jean-Luc is whether to push hard for the finish and run the risk of breaking Matmut’s damaged mast, or settle for second place. The fact that 3rd placed Estonian Uku Randmaa trails 3,450 miles behind, could well persuade the Frenchman to push all out for a win, knowing that if the worst happens, he could still finish 2nd under a jury rig.

Illegal routing and position reports?

Recent allegations circulating on social media and in print that Jean-Luc Van Den Heede has been receiving illegal radio position reports have proved unfounded. Race Chairman Don McIntyre made the following statement today:

“French and Dutch passions, already roused by the prospect of a nail-biting finish between Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Mark Slats, were stirred further when it became clear that first Mark, and then Jean-Luc did not have valid Ham radio licenses. Then, other accusations began to fly between the two camps; the most serious being that J-LVDH may have been breaching the rules governing weather routing and position reports. One transcribed JL VDH radio recording proved to be a simple weather forecast – NOT weather routing. Some have suggested that there are other recordings of these breaches, but after continued requests by GGR officials to hear them, these recordings remain ‘unavailable’.

The GGR Notice of Race is very clear, but some do not appear to understand how the GGR skippers operate and what the rules actually mean. GGR is confident that no entrants have received weather routing, which is forbidden, nor LAT/LONG positions of their own and other yachts. To stop any further confusion, the French GGR Ham network has stopped broadcasting any weather information to J-L VDH and Mark Slats, and now transmit relevant information including forecasts only to Uku Randmaa, Istvan Kopar and Tapio Lehtinen who all hold valid Ham Radio licences.”

Click here for full interview with Don McIntyre

Back to the Race

For the moment, Istvan Kopar’s charge up the South Atlantic to challenge Uku Randmaa for third has run out of steam. The American/Hungarian lost some time repairing his self-steering and is now caught in calms while Randmaa is making most of the SE trade winds, and holds a 580 mile cushion

5th placed Tapio Lehtinen is making most of the Southern Ocean weather systems and is looking to round Cape Horn in two weeks time. The Finn celebrated his 61st birthday last Friday enjoying 45knot north-westerly blast and can expect two more gales at least before rounding the Cape. He is also holding his own in the virtual race against the passage time set by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 50 years ago and should round the Horn ahead.

The post Day 204 – Van Den Heede regains the initiative… for now appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 198 – Mark Slats closes to within 50 miles of Van Den Heede in nail-biting race to the finish

Difference in distance to finish now reduced to 49 miles
Slats runs out of fresh water – has been using his emergency desalinator for past week
Barnacles return
Questions raised over use of Ham radios

Dateline: 12:00 UTC 15. 01. 2019 – Les Sables d’Olonne, France

With less than 1,700 miles back to the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne, 2nd placed Dutchman Mark Slats has sliced a further 393 miles out of Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s lead In terms of distance to finish over the past 8 days. At 08:00 UTC today, the gap was just 49 miles, Slats having gained 205 miles in the past 48 hours.

Jean-Luc, whose Rustler 36 Matmut has led the Golden Globe Race since passing the Cape of Good Hope and at one stage held a 2,000 advantage, has seen his lead being whittled away ever since the 73-year-old Frenchman suffered a knock-down and sustained damage to his mast during a Southern Ocean storm in the South Pacific in November 1.

Van Den Heede still holds a weather advantage and once passed the influence of the Azores high pressure system, should be first to benefit from the reaching winds that will give him an easier passage north towards the Bay of Biscay.

But Slats is pushing hard despite a few problems of his own. In a satellite call to Race HQ on Monday, the Dutchman reported for the first time that he ran out of fresh water supplies a week ago, and is now using his emergency desalinator to turn salt water into fresh. It is hard work. An hour of pumping with both hands produces just 750ml of water – barely a cup full. The average daily intake is 2.5litres – 3 hours pumping!

Barnacles

He also reported that during a period of calm three weeks ago he had dived on Ohpen Maverick‘s hull and completely cleaned the bottom of growth and slime. `’It was perfect” he said yesterday. So imagine his surprise when he dived again five days ago to find the hull infested with barnacles once more. “The biggest are 3.5cm long, but most are about 1.5cms. They are growing all over the hull.” His first efforts to clean the bottom again were thwarted by the sudden appearance of a 3.5m shark, but he will use the next period of calm to have another go. “So far, this must have cost me about 50 miles.”

Third placed Estonian skipper Uku Randmaa whose Rustler 36 One and All, has also been beset by barnacle growth since crossing the Indian Ocean, is today caught in calms in the South Atlantic, some 3,000 miles behind the leading duo. He dived yesterday, and reported: “I’m swimming with dophins.” We hope he recognises the difference between these mammals and their more agressive distant cousins!

800 miles to the South, American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar is making great progress northwards in his Tradewind 35 Puffin, seemingly having overcome his self-steering problems but had to stop for half a day to repair the wheel drum connecting ropes to the boat main steering.

As is Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen aboard his Gaia 36 Asteria who avoided the worst of one storm last week and is attempting to outrun another today. Now within 1,700 miles of Cape Horn but still beset with barnacle growth, he was making 4.3 knots today. Behind him though is the sceptre of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston‘s Suhaili catching up in their virtual race round the world. Suhaili‘s relative position from 50 years ago was 512 miles behind a week ago. Today, the distance is nearer 280!

Igor Zaretskiy postpones restart from Albany

Back in December barnacle growth and rigging issues forced 6th placed Russian skipper Igor Zaretskiy to stop in Albany, Western Australia where a medical examination found a continuation of a heart condition, and he flew home to Moscow for further tests. Would this be the end of his challenge?

The good news is that his doctors and team believe it is not, but time to re-start within the Summer window in the Southern Ocean has run out. Igor‘s plan now is to restart in the Chichester Class sometime in October, to coincide with the Southern hemisphere Summer and complete what he started. In a statement, he says: “There is a natural and always reasoned rule: fight to the end. Until you see the buoy at Les Sables d’Olonne, the race cannot be stopped”

There is no time limit for competitors in the Chichester Class

Robin Davie safe and well after extended voyage from Les Sables d’Olonne back to Falmouth

2022 GGR entrant Robin Davie returned to Falmouth on Saturday four days after he was posted overdue and largely unaware of concerns for his safety. UK Coastguard had issued an All Ships Alert for his Rustler 36 C’EST La VIE after his brother reported him overdue, which he answered late Friday night. Explaining his delay, Robin said: “Faced with calms and very light head winds, I decided to take a long tack out into the Atlantic and back to test the boat in these conditions. We know that this race is won and lost, not in gale force winds, but when they are light so I used the time to test myself and the boat. Because these boats don’t have autopilots and rely on wind-vanes to steer by, we followed the wind on a circuitous route that extended the distance from a 300 mile direct course to nearer 700 miles. I was well out of radio range, and it was not until I was 25 miles SW of the Scilly Isles that I first heard the alert.”

Ham radio Net

Sailors have been making use of the amateur Ham radio net for decades. Competitors in the Nedlloyd Spice Race from Jakarta to Rotterdam back in 1979 were surprised to find that King Hussain of Jordan was an avid amateur operator and regular participant on their net. National telecommunication authorities have often turned a deaf ear to unlicensed operators using made-up call signs while at sea. But this may be coming to an end following a warning from one National regulator to a GGR skipper. They warn: “You use an amateur callsign and are making connections with amateur radio operators. The call sign letters are not registered, and thus illegal. I ask you to stop. If you have a legal amateur callsign then I urge you to present it”.

Fair warning both to unregistered GGR skippers and to legitimate Ham radio operators communicating with them. In Britain, the Ham Radio net is controlled by OFCOM, which recently revoked more than 500 licences for non-compliance. This includes communicating with unregistered Ham radio operators. The maximum penalty is 6 months in prison, a £5,000 fine and loss of their licence.

GGR skippers have been using this free communication system to gain weather forecasts and maintain contact with their teams, which is allowed under the Race Rules, It is the responsibility of each skipper to ensure that they abide by National and International regulations. Such transgressions may not affect the outcome of the Race unless broadcasts have included position reports of GGR yachts which are not allowed. Should that be proved, then skippers face an immediate 48 hour penalty for the first offence, followed by disqualification.

RUBICON 3 and GGR partner up for two special adventure sailing transatlantic voyages.

Are you up for a Celestial Adventure with the 2018 Golden Globe Rce? GGR has partnered with RUBICON3 to send two ex-Clipper 60 yachts across the Atlantic on an adventure sail training and Celestial Navigation training exercise. You can join them and return home as a qualified Celestial Navigator. The first boat is full and only a few spots remain on the second for an end of March crossing. GGR will follow the voyage and profile the crew on Facebook. Susie Goodall was an instructor with RUBICON3 when she first heard about the GGR and they sponsored her sextant. Can you do it? YES YOU CAN! and why not.

Click here for details

The post Day 198 – Mark Slats closes to within 50 miles of VDH in nail-biting race to the finish appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 190 – Van Den Heede serves 18 hour penalty

Mark Slats closes to within 417 miles
Uku Randmaa survives South Atlantic storm
Istvan Kopar makes most progress during past week
Tapio Lehtinen asks for the record books – who has been the slowest solo circumnavigator?

Dateline: 15:00 UTC 07. 01. 2019 – Les Sables d’Olonne, France

French race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede served out his 18 hour penalty (for improper use of his satellite phone) on Saturday and is now clear to race the remaining 2,150 miles to the finish at Les Sables d’Olonne. He expects to arrive there on 26th January.

But will he still be first?

While Jean-Luc was serving his ‘time-out’ in the penalty box south of the 20°N parallel, 2nd placed Dutchman Mark Slats was powering northwards through the SE Trades at more than 5 knots and by 08:00 UTC today, had closed the difference in ‘distance to finish’ to within 417 miles. Worse for Jean-Luc, the NE Trade winds have disappeared and he is likely to be facing the frustration of calms until Wednesday at least, while Slats continues to make strong gains.

The weather map below shows the blue area of calms blocking the path of Van Den Heede and his yacht Matmut and the narrow band of north-easterly winds coming off the African coast, which Slats and his rival Rustler 36 Ophen Maverick are striving to reach. This creates a big opportunity and sets the scene for a tactical battle with the wind gods playing their part during the week ahead. Slats is currently making 5.0 knots and this is likely to continue until he reaches the same 20°N latitude where Jean-Luc is sitting. From then on it will simply be a case of powering into the NE Trades up to the Bay of Biscay, which could also spring more surprises before the finish.

Jean-Luc reported today: “A pretty frustrating day! I did not get any wind at all. I was stopped for several hours, until midnight yesterday while listening to a book ‘The foreign student’. I did not make even 20 miles.
Since then, I found a little wind, it’s not crazy speed but at least I advance, and at least I’m sailing with the windvane. I am in a very difficult area where normally the trade winds are well established in January. I can tell you that they are not established at all. I do my best to go north, I hope that next week the weather conditions will have changed, that I will have good speed, and that I will be able to charge my batteries.”

The two skippers are racing identical Rustler 36 designs, but Matmut carries a smaller rig and mast damage, which Jean-Luc does not want to overpress. Ophen Maverick has the benefit of a larger sail plan, but after 25,000 miles, she beginning to show signs of wear which could lead to breakages. These final 2 weeks promise to provide a nerve-racking finale.

One man with his money still firmly on Jean-Luc is French weather guru Jean-Yves Bernot. Writing on the Voiles magazine site, he sums up the situation thus: “The coming days are not going to be very funny because it is a lot of starboard tack work and Jean-Luc will lose half his lead. That said, this is not really a problem for him. These venerable boats are not very fast; it takes a lot of time to regain ground. At best they cover 140 miles a day and VDH still has a good cushion.

We are in a classic situation, with a Azores anticyclone in its place and the route that passes to the west of this archipelago. There, in the Azores, you hope to find a depression to carry you home on south-westerly winds. For VDH the wind will be weak and unstable from Monday to at least Wednesday. Meanwhile, yes, his Dutch comrade will make up a lot of ground; maybe 300 or 400 miles to roughly half of his lead. But then, there is no situation where one would miss a weather phenomenon beneficial to the other, and Mark Slats will slow down while VDH goes off again. That’s why I think there are no problems for Jean-Luc, even if he will moan because it is all upwind to the Azores “

Van Den Heede did not help his cause by straying north of the 20°N parallel during his 18 hours in the penalty box. The rules are very clear: On crossing north of 20° North latitude, the entrant suffering a time penalty must then return south of that latitude (when the penalty time starts) and not cross North of it again (within 40 miles of the initial crossing point) until the time penalty has been served. The entrant may then make for the finish line.

Nor should there have been any confusion with navigation. Because of difficulties with traditional means of navigation in knowing precisely when you cross a latitude, GGR HQ gave Jean-Luc a time of 00:10 UTC on Saturday 5th January to start his penalty. All he had to do was remain south of his position at that time.

He started well enough, heading SW (130°T) for two hours at an average speed of 3.67knots, but he turned and sailed NE (317°T) for a distance of 9.9 miles which carried Matmut north of the line. The yacht remained north of the line for 3 hours.

As it happened, the winds died at the end of his 18-hour penalty period, and Jean-Luc found himself trapped behind the line for several hours more so he did in fact serve an uninterrupted 18 hours behind the line.

GGR HQ has since ruled that Jean-Luc made an unintended navigational error and had served the penalty at 21:00 UTC on 5th January. Full ruling as below:

REVIEW of Jean Luc VDH serving his 18hour GGR TIME PENALTY. 2000UTC 6th Jan. 2019

# Jean Luc VDH was allocated an 18hr time penalty on 9th NOV.2018 The course penalty rule in the GGR Notice of Race is as follows.

GGR NOR 2.5.2 Course Penalties.Time penalties allocated to an Entrant will be served in a Penalty Box (TBA in the sailing instructions) On crossing north of 45 degrees North latitude, the Entrant suffering a time penalty must then return south of that latitude (Penalty time starts) and not cross North of it again (within 40 miles of the crossing longitude),until the time penalty has been served. The entrant may then make for the finish line.

The Penalty Box latitude was subsequently lowered to 20 degrees North on the 21st DEC 2018 for safety reasons, due to the anticipated early arrival of yachts at 45N. To allow for lack of precise positioning by entrants, an agreed START TIME is set close to that latitude. At that START TIME while the entrant is sailing north, that position then becomes the target latitude for the PENALTY BOX and that time/position marks the East West Latitude ( Boundary line) of the PENALTY BOX and the entrant must stay SOUTH of that PENALTY BOX Boundary while serving time

BACKGOUND.

JL VDH Penalty START TIME was 0010UTC on the 5th January 2019.

1. JL VDH turned South on time.

2. In the first two hours he sailed an average course of 130T for 7.34miles (average speed 3.67kts)

3. In the next two hours he sailed fast to use his water generator and sailed an average course of 317T for 9.90 miles ( Average 5.95kts. He did not realize he crossed over North of the line just hours after leaving it)

4. For the next three hours JL VDH sailed an average course of 116T for 5.85 miles (average speed of 1.95kts to meet the Boundary)

5. JL VDH was North of the line for approx 3.hours. GGR advised JL VDH of his position North of the line as he was close to re-entering the Penalty Box. He did not believe he was North of the line. He thought he was South of the line at all times.

6. The penalty time is only applicable when South of the line.

7. In a later explanation to JL VDH, he agreed he was North of the line.

8. JL VDH was advised to remain below the line for a total of 18 Hours.

9 JL VDH wanted the 3 hours North of the line to be included in his penalty time and requested a review.

10. JL Departed the PENALTY BOX at 2100UTC 5th January 2019 with the approval of GGR acknowledging the request for review to be addressed in a timely manner.

FINDINGS.

A. GGR Does not agree that time North of the boundary is part of the penalty time.

B. GGR Agrees that JL VDH made an unintended Navigational error.

C. GGR Notes that JL VDH made the effort to remain in the PENALTY BOX for the required 18 hours South of the line ( Not including the time North of the line)

D. GGR Accepts that JL VDH was approx. 10 minutes short of the 18 hour requirement, but the effort to remain inside the Penalty box is in the Spirit of the GGR.

E. GGR will NOT issue any time CREDIT to JL VDH and determines that JL VDH has fully complied with the GGR Time Penalty of 18 Hrs at 2100hrs on the 5th January 2019.

Third placed Estonian skipper Uku Randmaa and his Rustler 36 One and All, survived last week’s South Atlantic storm unscathed, and now finds himself drifting in a hole, making only 1 knot on Sunday, so has used the time to dive overboard and give the hull another clean. The forecast suggests that the winds will not return until later today – and then from the north! His climb up towards the Equator will not any easier than it was for the two leaders but at least temperatures are warming by the day.

Surprisingly, Istvan Kopar, who rounded Cape Horn on December 1, has made most progress of all during the past 5 days, but now head winds have become his new reality and Puffin’s VMG has dropped to 2.8knots today.

Also surprising is the 5.1knots recorded by Tapio Lehtinen’s Finnish entry Asteria. She is covered in barnacle growth, which is sapping her speed at an ever-increasing rate. Last week, GGR HQ lifted the restriction of the NO-GO ZONE south of the 42°S Parallel in the South Pacific as a safety measure for Lehtinen to escape the worst of a Southern Ocean storm running up behind, and Tapio has been running before strong NE wind towards Cape Horn ever since.

Ever the humourist, Tapio messaged Race HQ on 5th January: CAN I GET 2 THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS 4 THE SLOWEST TIME ROUND THE WORLD?
This had set us thinking: Has there been anyone slower than the time of 312 days set by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston 50 years ago?

The distance to finish between his Suhaili and Asteria in this virtual race played out on the YB Tracker is down to 512 miles. Five days ago, Asteria’s lead was 690 miles, so the record could yet be won by Lehtinen

Race to salvage Gregor McGuckin’s abandoned yacht Hanley Energy Endurance.

Plans are moving forward to salvage Irish GGR skipper Gregor McGuckin’s yacht Hanley Energy Endurance. Cody Cordwainer, a tugboat captain operating out of Brooklyn Navy Yard is set to arrive in Perth, W.Australia on January 16 and charter a fishing boat to take him and his crew to collect the yacht, now some 1,100 miles to the west of Fremantle. Cody is posting all news on Facebook.

The post Day 190 – Van Den Heede serves 18 hour penalty appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 185 – Istvan Kopar rounds Cape Horn

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede extends lead over Mark Slats
Uku Randmaa attempts to out-run South Atlantic storm
Tapio Lehtinen continues to be slowed by barnacle growth
Igor Zaretskiy: health check will determine plans to re-start in Chichester Class

Dateline 17:00 UTC 02. 01. 2019 – Les Sables d’Olonne, France

Istvan Kopar rounded Cape Horn at 19:00 UTC yesterday, giving the 65-year old American/Hungarian a perfect New Year boost. To have got this far has been a triumph over adversity in every sense since the start from Les Sables d’Olonne on July 1st last year.

Kopar’s Tradewind 35 Puffin has suffered continued self-steering issues from Day 1 that led him to consider throwing in the towel at the Cape Verde islands. His SSB radio has been on the blink almost as long, preventing him from picking up weather forecasts or communicating with other skippers; his freshwater tanks became contaminated, and Kopar had to fashion new cogs to replace those that were breaking up in the steering pedestal gearbox.

Yet despite all this, Kopar has become the 4th of 17 starters to round the Cape back into the Atlantic, speeding along at 6 knots, having recovered 58 miles on race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede over the Christmas/New Year period.

The 73-year old Frenchman crossed the Equator on December 26 and today is now within 2,500 miles of the finish, confidently predicting a return to Les Sables d’Olonne on January 26.

Whether it will be Jean-Luc and his Rustler 36 Matmut that takes the winning gun remains very much in the balance. His lead over 2nd placed Dutchman Mark Slats has ebbed and flowed over the past 12 days, jumping from 700 miles on December 21 to 1,100 miles after Christmas to stand at around 900 miles today.

The tracker on Slat’s Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick stopped transmitting early yesterday, but dead reckoning suggests that he will cross the Equator later today.

While Van Den Heede continues to nurse Matmut’s damaged rig, it has not been plain-sailing for Slats either. The Dutchman reports. “Sailing close hauled for the past 14 days has had a huge impact on the boat. The thick-walled steel bracket holding the wind vane to the transom was nearly torn off by the strain. My ‘Flintstone’ repair using wood took from 16:00 to 03:00 to complete and is now as strong as ever, and luckily, I didn’t have to stop sailing.”

He also reported that the rubber collar sealing the mast where it goes through the deck had split, but a tube of Sikkaflex has stopped the leaks.

On a personal front, Slats says that the wet conditions on deck has led to a reoccurrence of the salt-water boils that he first experienced on his buttocks during his record-setting solo row across the Atlantic at the end of 2017. “These spots re-appear immediately whenever my butt gets wet. It’s very painful and I have had to resort to wearing my full Southern Ocean suit on deck in 40° conditions!”

Slats can now look forward to a week of easy sailing in the SE Trades and at the last full report, was making 6.5 knots against Matmut’s 5.8 but knows that he must now average 30 miles a day more to have any hope of beating Van Den Heede to the finish line.

One reason for Matmut’s lack of speed has been the Sargasso weed that grows in abundance north of the Equator. It catches on the keel, as well as the water generator prop-shaft and Walker towed log if Van Den Heede tried to use them. His navigation has also been hampered by damage to his two sextants. One he dropped, and the other has suffered from salt water corrosion. During a recent call to Race HQ, Jean-Luc joked: “I know where Les Sables d’Olonne is…I just don’t know exactly where I am!”

Today, main concern is focussed on 3rd placed Estonian Uku Randmaa whose Rustler 36 One and All has failed to out-run a storm now heading straight for him 1,000 miles east of the Argentine coast. Race Chairman Don McIntyre says:
“Unfortunately he cannot outrun it as preceding northerly winds may halt his progress and then push him into the most dangerous sector where he may be trapped for about 18h-24hrs. Winds are expected to gust 60-75kts with dangerous 6-8mtr seas. The system is about 800 miles across moving relatively fast. It’s a large system!”

Race HQ will be monitoring Uku’s position carefully and remain on-hand 24/7 providing him with regular weather reports and advice.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen continues to lag in 5th place mid-way across the South Pacific Ocean, plagued by barnacle growth on his Gaia 36 Asteria. Efforts before Christmas to hang over the side suspended from a spinnaker halyard and use a pole with scraper attached to clear the shellfish failed to work, and continued shark sightings have precluded any thought of diving overboard to scrape the hull clean.

Today, Asteria was making just 3.3 knots, having lost a further 760 miles on the race leader over the past 12 days. But Tapio remains buoyant, enjoying the solitude and the birds attracted by his presence. He has plenty of food, water, books and music and hopes to round Cape Horn at the end of January. The hope also is that he may just finish the race before the prize giving on April 22.

His race now is against the performance set by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and his yacht Suhaili 50 years ago. Today, Asteria is 690 miles ahead, but judging by current performance that is likely to shrink further in this virtual race around the globe.

Russian skipper Igor Zaretskiy, now back in Moscow after leaving his Endurance 35 Esmeralda in Albany, W Australia before Christmas, will undergo a health check tomorrow that will determine whether he will be able to restart the race in the Chichester Class before the January 14 deadline. If he gets the all-clear from doctors then he intends to return to Australia immediately, but if an operation is advised, recovery will mean that he can’t restart before the start of the Southern Ocean Spring season in November.

All within the GGR Family send our best wishes.

Race to salvage Gregor McGuckin’s abandoned yacht Hanley Energy Endurance.

Irish GGR skipper Gregor McGuckin has accepted an offer from American Cody Cordwainer, a tugboat captain operating out of Brooklyn Navy Yard, to salvage his yacht currently 1,100 miles west of Fremantle W.Australia. In a plea for support, Cody has posted on Facebook

“We’ll make no profit on this enterprise. The distillery has offered €1000 in return for it’s whiskey, but that will not even begin to cover all the expenses.We’ll need help to make this happen. Funding of course is great but we also need contacts in Perth Australia. We’ll need a vessel to rescue his boat, and a place to put it once rescued.Think you could help? PM/DM us for more details and head over to Instagram and give @whiskeyrescue a follow!

The post Day 185 – Istvan Kopar rounds Cape Horn appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 173 – December 21. 2018 – Longest day in the Southern Ocean

Mark Slats reduces Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s lead by 87 miles in 4 days
Uku Randmaa rounds Cape Horn
Istvan Kopar surrounded by storms
Tapio Lehtinen tackles his barnacle problems

Dateline 16:00 UTC 21.12. 2018 – Les Sables d’Olonne, France

Today is the longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere so the sun has the largest declination to the south for all using a sextant to navigate. It also often marks a period of unsettled weather but all seems fine for the GGR fleet for now. The thoughts of skippers are towards Christmas mixed with their drive to the finish line back at Les Sables d’Olonne.

Third placed Uku Randmaa rounded Cape Horn at 04:00 UTC on Wednesday (19th Dec). The 55-year old Estonian, has been here once before during a previous circumnavigation in 2011/12, but the emotional sighting was just as great: His text messages said it all: IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT I CAN SEE THE HORN. I AM THANKFUL FOR MY GODS followed by: THANKS TO SIR ROBIN FOR THE FOOTSTEPS AND ST MAWES SC FOR THE CAKE!

He is of course referring to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, winner of the first Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 50 years ago and to the ‘Aunt Eileen’ fruit cake that sustained Sir Robin that day, faithfully replicated by a Cornish baker and presented to each GGR skipper by members of the St Mawes Sailing Club in Cornwall for them to open at the Horn.

Uku and his Rustler 36 One and All were then becalmed for a period, but now taking full advantage of westerly reaching winds to pass to the East of the Falkland Islands, hoping perhaps to miss the worst of the headwinds that Mark Slats is experiencing. There is no settled weather pattern for the region at this time of the year so no right or wrong way to head north. One thing is for sure; after months of savage Southern Ocean conditions ,Uku is enjoying the opportunity of lesser wind and lower swells.

His Christmas message is: MANY ASK WHAT I DO AT XMAS? I’M SAILING!…BUT A MERRY XMAS TO ALL GGR FANS FROM ONE AND ALL! I HAVE COQ AU VIN DE BERGERERAC. NO DECORATIONS…JUST HEADWIND

2,163 miles ahead, Mark Slats sailing the second Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick, continues to surprise everyone with his sustained high speed to windward, regularly making 6 knots. The forecast shows continued headwinds for many days to come and in a text message yesterday, the Dutchman admitted : ALL GOOD. LIFE IS A LITTLE BORING HERE BEATING TO WINDWARD!

When you live at a constant angle of heal everything is hard to do: eating, sleeping and doing anything on a spray-soaked deck. He is also too busy trying to catch Van Den Heede to focus on Christmas, and during the stress of departure, he reported this week that he had forgotten to pack any of his presents!

Jean-Luc, sailing yet another Rustler 36 – Matmut – may be seeing Slats whittling away his lead bit by bit at , but knows that his wind angle gets better every day that he moves further north at 5-6 knots. He must be dreaming now about easing sheets and turning the corner around the South American bulge to benefitt from the Caribbean trade winds. It has been hard work, especially with a damaged mast, but he is making good progress. His Christmas present will be seeing Matmut regain some of her lead lost to Ohpen Maverick since rounding Cape Horn, but whenever he looks up at his mast, he knows there is still a long way to the finish!

Jean-Luc’s Xmas message to all his followers is: WISHING EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2019

4th placed American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar currently sits between two areas of heavy weather, one to the North, the other South. He survived his biggest storm so far yesterday, and now has his Tradewind 35 Puffin running East as fast as possible. He is very happy onboard now that he has collected rain water to drink and while he will be living the Southern Ocean life for another week or more (Puffin is currently 1,300 miles West of Cape Horn), Istvan is looking forward to Christmas, and hopefully will be celebrating the New Year in the Atlantic.

His Xmas message is: MERRY XMAS TO MY FRIENDS IN US, CANADA, HUNGARY, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, FRANCE AND AUSTRALIA. I HAVE NEVER BEEN WEALTHY, BUT RICH IN NUMBERS AND QUALITY OF FRIENDSHIPS.

In a safety call to Race HQ today, Istvan added: “No decorations, but I will be changing my underwear and having a shave on Christmas Day. I’ve also fixed my cassette player so will have some Xmas songs to drink a special desert wine with that I have onboard. It will be a very lonely Xmas… the hardest ever… I’ll be thinking of family and missing them.”

5th placed Finnish skipper Tapio Lehtinen sailing the Gaia 36 Asteria has pre-Xmas plans to clean barnacles from her hull without swimming. Instead of diving overboard and running a gauntlet between hungry sharks, he intended to try swinging out on the end of the spinnaker halyard, and using the boat hook with scraper attached, to walk along the hull like a rock climber. The weather maps show a near calm so we hope he is successful. Tapio wants to make Les Sables d’Olonne Agglomeration before April 22 – the GGR prize giving final party!
Tapio’s Xmas message: MY RED NOSE IS THE DECORATION. SLICE OF SIR ROBIN’S FRUIT CAKE AND A SLUG OF JALLU,

Russian skipper Igor Zaretskiy returned to Moscow today for a health check. If all proves well, he will be back on his Endurance 35 Esmeralda within a week and restarting the GGR from Albany, Western Australia in the Chichester Class. If not, he has until 14th January to restart, or wait for the winter season in the Southern Ocean to pass and restart after November 14.

Explaining this restart announcement made by GGR organisers today, Don McIntyre, Race Chairman says: “It is important for safety and risk minimisation for us to know that Igor will round Cape Horn no later than the end of March when the winter storms in the Southern Ocean start to become prevalent. We have used the sailing progress set by Istvan Kopar from Cape Leeuwin and added an additional 3 days to calculate a total sailing time to the Horn of 78 days. Should Igor have an operation, then he will need to undergo another GGR medical and gain a release from his doctor that he is good to sail. We wish Igor well in the coming days and hope to see him back in the Race very soon.”

Whiskey Galore

Following our update on Gregor McGuckin’s Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance on Monday, two groups have expressed interest in salvaging the yacht currently drifting some 1,200 miles West of Fremantle. The main attraction it seems is the barrel of Glendalough 7-year-old 777 single malt Irish whiskey onboard. The recovery of his boat would also make a great Christmas present for Gregor too!

Race updates during the Xmas and the New Year.

For the GGR team it is business as usual 24hrs a day, 7 days a week and we will continue to post news as it happens on the GGR Facebook page www.facebook.com/goldengloberace

On New Year’s Day it will be exactly 6 months since the start of the Golden Globe Race from Les Sables d’Olonne so we will be saying cheers to our sponsor Champagne Mumm. And so too will our skippers. Two bottles were loaded aboard each yacht before the start, so even Mark Slats will have something to celebrate with!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The post Day 173 – December 21. 2018 – Longest day in the Southern Ocean appeared first on Golden Globe Race.