Leg 2, Day 32 Report

With 1,100 miles of Southern Ocean remaining until Sir Robin Knox Johnston reaches Cape Horn, he is satisfied with progress on SAGA INSURANCE and happy to watch the east-west degrees diminish with every mile. Although Knox-Johnston continues to be hindered by lack of detailed weather information via satellite, he has just started receiving data from the South American mainland 900 miles to the east.
 
The VELUX 5 OCEANS 10:20 UTC poll shows that SAGA INSURANCE has won some miles from Basurko since Knox-Johnston's message and now trails PAKEA by just 39 miles and holds a 50 mile lead over Graham Dalton and A SOUTHERN MAN - AGD in fifth place. Dalton reported today that he has suffered two broken fingers in knock down a few days ago and although the Southern Ocean has been relatively benign compared to the last leg he has not come out of it unscathed.
 
Onboard CHEMINEES POUJOULAT, race leader Bernard Stamm has finally collided with the South Atlantic depression blocking his path. However, crossing the weather system proved tricky and Stamm quickly became aware that he was being chased. Working constantly to extract his yacht from the eye of the depression eventually brought results.
 
As the VELUX 5 OCEANS race leader continues to weave his Open 60 northwards 900 miles off the coast of Southern Brazil, further to the south, second place Shiraishi has fallen into a hole of light winds. This meteorological twist is made harder by Shiraishi high-speed rounding of Cape Horn on Tuesday in 47 knot winds and huge seas.
 
Shiraishi is currently making just 3.8 knots on SPIRIT OF YUKOH in a super-soft 2.5 knots south-westerly breeze, struggling northwards 60 miles east of Staten Island (Isla de Los Estados). This drop in speed has seen Shiraishi lose 47 miles to Stamm overnight and SPIRIT OF YUKOH now trails CHEMINEES POUJOULAT by 1,800 miles.
 
While Shiraishi squeezes every available knot of boat speed from his Open 60, Unai Basurko in third place has made gains on the Japanese yacht overnight, educing Shiraishi's impressive lead by 73 miles. Although the Basque skipper has reported possible damage to the folding propeller on Pakea, this has not affected his speed and Basurko has upped the pace, averaging just over 10 knots in the last 24 hours; the best speed averages in the trio of yachts at the rear of the fleet.
 
Graham Dalton, has opted to drop south, gybing across Basurko's transom during the night to stop PAKEA escaping. Dalton's Open 50, A SOUTHERN MAN - AGD, is already at the same latitude as Cape Horn.
 
Sir Robin Knox Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE:
“Happy Valentine's Day from the Southern Ocean. I can't say I'm feeling that romantic, so no poetry for you today! The weather forecasts from Chile are now coming through after a gap of 60 hours without any information. During the time without [position] information, I gained on both the others, now I know where they are... I am losing out. There's a message there somewhere!”
 
Graham Dalton, A SOUTHERN MAN - AGD
“We’ve passed the spot last time where my boom snapped, so that’s one out of the way. At the moment I’ve got two broken fingers from a knock-down. I’ve got them strapped together. They are badly broken, so I haven’t got out of these waters unscathed. It’s hard to work with them strapped-up. You can’t wear a glove on that hand. We’ve passed the spot last time where my boom snapped, so that’s one out of the way. I would say at the moment I’ve got two broken fingers from a knock-down. I’ve got them strapped together. They are badly broken, so I haven’t got out of these waters unscathed.”
 
Kojiro Shiraishi, SPIRIT OF YUKOH:
“This morning we were greeted with a dying wind and more struggles. Absolutely no Wind! Can it be so? It is like a different world to yesterday. I could not believe that two days could be so opposite I feel the cruel side of nature all too soon.”
 
Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT
“A lot of work today. I just went through the low pressure at first it was a lot of southerly wind, more or less 45 kts, it was good for speed. The problem is that the low has stopped heading south-east and started to go north! I had to go as fast as possible to maintain my scenario, otherwise I should be caught by the centre or pass on the wrong side.”