"Well, Bernard Stamm has won the first leg of the race which has been a bit of a demolition derby. His time, by his high standards, is not good, he had hoped to do it in a few days less, but on balance had the regular sort of winds.     
 
This fishing net caught round the keel yesterday morning is not the last straw: it's just yet another piece of misfortune just as I was getting moving. The trouble is that it is 4.5 metres below the surface and so very hard to get at. I tried for 6 hours yesterday but to no avail.  Admittedly the seas were still big so trying to get a knife down on the end of some pieces of lashed-together battens was almost impossible.  
 
I eventually gave up as I realised I would have to wait for calmer conditions. I just hope the rope has not damaged the fin too much. I can see where it has sawed into the fairing. We are on our way again.   
I spent the night thinking but knew that there was only one way I could really get at the problem and that was by going swimming. I put on a sailing dry suit, then a harness, attached it to a nice long line, and went over the transom. 
 
I swam out as far as my safety line could reach but not get down to the main anchor line. I got its partner though and brought it back on board. Interesting watching the boat from maybe 100 feet away.  She was rolling horribly. I was also not too excited about the sudden attention of 3 albatroses who clearly saw my floundering as some sign of potential dinner in an hour or two.     

Back aboard I winched in the line I had and because it was twisted round the main line, it brought that close to the surface. Using an empty cooking propane container as a float, I attached a line to it, and then pushed it down with a batten to the up tide side of the line and then let go. It floated nicely up the other side of the line. Now it was just down to brute force, hauling in on my messenger until the main anchor line was at the surface at which point I was able to reach down and cut it with a hacksaw.  

 

I then spent 20 minutes slowly removing the turns between the two lines with the aid of a batten, and was able eventually to pull it clear of the keel. We are now sailing again but not very aggressively at the moment as I am tired and still feel very cold. 

Mike Golding's retirement is a great shame. I was certainly hoping he would get his spare mast out to Cape Town and continue, however I can understand the costs and time involved in that. I don't agree with his safety points though. If we were to have other boats around the last boat in any race would automatically withdraw. We did not have any of that 40 years ago, and neither did Ellen or others, including himself, going for records in recent years. There are risks in everyday life, there are risks in this sport, and this race is particularly risky. That's a part of it. If it were easy, who would be interested? It's overcoming the risks that keeps the adrenalin flowing and makes it the challenge it certainly is. But all that said, we'll miss Mike in the event. He was looking good too when his mast went, but now he will never be able to say whether he could have beaten Stamm in the next two legs.
 
One bit of good news. I had trouble getting to sleep last night, it was rather like those soldiers and the King discussing their future in the night before Agincourt in Henry V, so I decided - since we were almost stopped - to have another go with the water maker and this time I did get it to work, so I am now topped up again.
 
The problem with the sailing dry suit is that although it did keep me dry, it did not insulate me, and I did not want too many clothes underneath as they would have given  buoyancy and made it even harder to dive, so by the time I got back to the boat, my hands were very cold and blue but still able to grip, fortunately. Hot breakfast this morning, hamburger and beans, to try and get rid of the chill in my stomach.

 

RKJ

Yacht Saga Insurance
0800 GMT Tuesday 5th December 2006
Latitude 44 09S    Longitude 012 53E
 

 

Commitment

Skippers are ordinary people with an extraordinary commitment. A commitment that takes them through the ordeal of raising money, getting a boat and ultimately alone face the most harsh weather conditions on earth thousands of kilometres from the nearest safe harbour. If you want to achieve great things you can do it.