Global Ocean Race - Skating along the Indian Ocean ice limit

Since the Leg 2 start of the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) in Cape Town last Tuesday, the fleet have hammered through headwinds around Cape Agulhas at the southern tip of Africa and dropped south sharply towards the GOR’s 2,000-mile long, Western Indian Ocean ice limit at 42 degrees South. With the fleet reduced to five Class40s following the dismasting of Nico and Frans Budels’ Class40 Sec. Hayai, the leading trio of boats – Cessna Citation, BSL and Campagne de France - have kept close formation, trading pole position consistently, with separation building between the front pack and the two first generation Akilarias, Phesheya-Racing and Financial Crisis.

On Thursday night, the entire fleet crossed a windless patch, slowing dramatically, but the worst casualties were Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis who were forced to head west briefly, developing a 117-mile deficit to the lead boat, but recovering and keeping pace with Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing in fourth. By Friday afternoon, the GOR fleet was fast reaching 135 miles north of the ice limit in powerful breeze of 25-30 knots with gusts of 45 knots, hurling the Class40s east at pace in punishing sea conditions.

Throughout Friday afternoon, Conrad Colman and the Artemis Offshore Academy sailor, Sam Goodchild, led the fleet with Cessna Citation, celebrating Colman’s 28th birthday with averages of over 14 knots and a lead of ten miles over Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron in second on Campagne de France. Colman and Goodchild handed over the lead to Mabire and Merron early the following morning with the New Zealand father-and-son duo of Ross and Campbell Field snatching the lead with BSL at 08:00 GMT on Saturday as the breeze swung to the west and the Field’s gybed deeper south. Later on Saturday, Colman and Goodchild once again regained pole position on Cessna Citation with the front trio separated by less than 13 miles after four days of racing.

By dawn on Sunday, the Fields were furthest south with BSL, skating along the southern limit in third place. Currently on his sixth circumnavigation race, any familiarity Ross Field may have with the Indian Ocean is relatively meaningless: “While bashing upwind in 25-30 knots of wind, big confused seas, cold, bashing and crashing so much one would wonder when the boat will break, every bone and muscle aching from being thrown around - we both said 'why the f*** do we do this?’,” he reports. “I do question my sanity sometimes when it’s like this. Why do we do it? I look at this bad part as a bad day at the office - I would rather be out here having a bad day than in an office. Does it make sense?”