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The Horses Have Left the Gate By Laurie Fullerton Tauranga, NZ - 14 single-handed sailors of the Around Alone fleet sailed away with beautiful weather at noon on Feb. 9 for the fourth, and most difficult leg of the world's toughest yacht race. "Ka Mati Ka Mati… Ka Ora Ka Ora" was the Maori chant called out to sailors before leaving the docks of Tauranga, New Zealand today en route to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The chant translates into "it is dark, it is dark, it is light, it is light. We challenge you to make it to the other end," and judging by the start of this high endurance race, the fleet was ready to go. Thirty minutes after the start, Graham Dalton was in first place followed by the Class 1 fleet's strongest leaders, Bernard Stamm of Switzerland and Thierry Dubois of France who are in first and second place overall. Stamm was sailing close to land going for wind shifts, tacking through thousands of spectators who crowded the course as the fleet sailed by at 16 knots in 12 to 15 knot breezes. Dubois was sailing on a tight reach and seemed to have more speed and wind pressure slightly off the land. At press time, American Brad Van Liew, aboard Tommy Hilfiger Freedom, was making a lot of ground on the competition in the Class 2 fleet close to Pindar and Tiscali. Van Liew now leads the fleet after three legs and. Both Brad and American sailor Bruce Schwab aboard Ocean Planet are expected to do well.
Just before leaving the dock this morning, Schwab said that, "I am hoping to finish this leg in the top three." "This leg will be a good one to get over with," Van Liew said. "I'm looking forward to Brazil." Leg 4 is one of the longest legs and puts the sailors in the most danger, historically, as they must sail back to the southern ocean, round Cape Horn and face the threat of increased ice berg flows all the way through. The mood was pure emotion just before the boats left the docks, but according to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the chairman of Clipper Ventures, organizers of the Around Alone 2002-03, "right now, the races are thinking about getting beyond land and getting out to open ocean. Frankly, they are not thinking about much after that." The sailors by now have also seen their share of the open sea and are more seasoned, and have a lot more confidence, Knox-Johnston said.
"Truly, it will be a difficult leg as they face cold, strong winds, the threat of icebergs and the pressure of racing. But, they know what they want and what they are taking on and they are a lot more confident that they were when this race started." And, in typical understated Kiwi fashion, Graham Dalton aboard Hexagon, said that "bottom line, it is just another bit of ocean. We do have the ice and you don't have any crew on watch to look out for ice. For me, I think the hardest part will be settling in to the race after being on land. That always takes time." |
