With the six GOR Class40s leaving Cape Town after a 48-hour delay due to strong winds, disaster struck the Dutch entry, Sec. Hayai, on the first night with a dismasting off the Cape of Good Hope. Descending through the Roaring Forties to the western Indian Ocean Ice Limit at 42S, the fleet remained compact with leadership changing frequently. At the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate mid-Indian Ocean, Cessna Citation crossed in first place and held the lead for the remaining 21 days of racing. The two lead boats, Cessna Citation and BSL dropped south to 48S after passing Kerguelen Island, while Campagne de France, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing stayed further north. Cessna Citation and BSL rode the Southern Ocean frontal systems at high speed, separating from the main pack of boats with Campagne de France frequently stuck in light airs throughout the Tasman Sea and the western boats, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing, experiencing the strongest winds (up to 60kts) behind the cold fronts and while the leaders closed up in light and fluctuating airs west of South Island, Cook Strait delivered a final blow for the fleet leaders supplying 50-60 knots for a gruelling finish to the 7,500-mile GOR Leg 2.
Week 1: Tuesday 29 November – Monday 5 December
Slow start and a quick drop south to the ice limit:
With the start delayed by two days due to strong winds, the six Class40s crossed the start line in Cape Town’s Table Bay at 14:00 Local (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday 29 November. The New Zealand Class40, Cessna Citation, of Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild was first across the line, followed by the Kiwi father-and-son duo of Ross and Campbell Field on BSL (an order that would be repeated at the finish line 30 days later). Following a spectacular reaching start, the breeze failed and the GOR fleet was left creeping south towards the Cape of Good Hope as night fell. After 14 hours of racing, the Dutch father-and-son team of Nico and Frans Budel dismasted shortly before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and entering the Indian Ocean. Both the Budels were uninjured and returned to Cape Town unassisted with their Class40 Sec. Hayai while a rigging component was suspected to be the cause of the dismasting.
The remaining five Class40s spent the first full day at sea in Leg 2 beating close inshore towards the Cape of Good Hope in strong headwinds before the breeze slackened. At 09:00 GMT on Wednesday as dawn broke, the New Zealand duo of Ross and Campbell Field with BSL took the lead from Conrad Colman and Artemis Offshore Academy sailor, Sam Goodchild, with Cessna Citation, as Colman and Goodchild took the inside track, sailing just six miles off Quoin Point, a rocky headland west of Cape Agulhas. Leaving South of Africa by 200 miles, the GOR Class40 fleet ran into light airs on Day 3, waiting for the westerlies to push them east and south, deeper into the Indian Ocean. On Friday morning, Campagne de France and BSL, furthest south in the fleet, dug into new breeze and by Sunday, (Day 5) under 36 miles separated the front of the pack with the fleet pinned down to the GOR’s ice limit at 42 degrees South, running downwind to the eastern end of the no-go zone before dropping deeper into the Southern Ocean.
At the end of the first week, the leaderboard ranking continued to change hourly after six days at sea. At the head of the fleet, Cessna Citation and Campagne de France continued swapping pole position, separated by a handful of miles since Friday, while BSL in third was closing down fast on the lead duo with the two trailing Class40s, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing, enjoying a private battle and making gains on the frontrunners.
Week 2: Tuesday 6 December – Monday 12 December
Through the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate with the leaders plummeting south of Kerguelen:
Close competition has always been a basis of the Class40 Association, but after one week and over 1,300 miles of racing through the Indian Ocean, the five, double-handed, Class40s in the Global Ocean Race were taking this characteristic to extremes. The Franco-British duo of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron took the lead on Monday night with their Pogo40S² Class40, Campagne de France, before Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild regained pole position at 05:00 GMT on Tuesday with the New Zealand-British team’s Akilaria RC2, Cessna Citation, but relinquished the lead to Mabire and Merron just four hours later.
The GOR fleet leaders passed the eastern extremity of the ice limit mid-week and by late Thursday, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon with Financial Crisis were the fourth boat to pass the end of the limit, followed two hours later by the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in fifth on Phesheya-Racing.
By Friday, the five Class40s were approaching the most remote part of the Indian Ocean, 1,800 miles from the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, and 2,600 miles from Cape Leeuwin at the south-western tip of Australia after ten days of racing with the fleet reaching east on port in the Roaring Forties with the Leg 2 Celox Sailing Scoring Gate at 69 degrees East as their next virtual target. In fourth and fifth place, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing remained 90 miles north of the leading trio with Cessna Citation at the head of the fleet pushing up the speed averages to over 14 knots, hunted by Campagne de France with BSL in third dropping back behind the leading two boats overnight.
As the weekend arrived, furthest north, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing were locked down in a cold front as Cessna Citation crossed the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate at 69E, north of Kerguelen Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, in first place shortly after 15:00 GMT on Saturday with Colman and Goodchild taking the maximum 6 points. Within three hours of Colman and Goodchild crossing the gate, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France and Ross and Campbell Field with BSL tore through the gate averaging just under 14 knots and separated by two miles – an exceptionally compressed pack after 11 days and over 2,500 miles of racing from Cape Town.
Meanwhile, north-west of the leading trio of Class40s, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing were first to feel the front on Saturday with the wind switching round to an icy, southerly blast as the system rolled east through the Roaring Forties. By late Sunday and into Monday, the extraordinary, sustained speeds of the leading trio hurtling east ahead of the front began to moderate as the breeze went aft and settled in the south-west.
Week 3: Tuesday 13 December – Monday 19 December
Punishing conditions and extraordinary speeds:
Complex weather conditions in the middle of the Indian Ocean between 40S and 50S forced some tough decisions in the fleet early in Week 3. Furthest north, Phesheya-Racing and Financial Crisis made painful tacks to the south-west, away from the finish line, beating away from the path of a vicious low pressure system. Right in the middle of the Roaring Forties, Campagne de France in third place fell into an area of exceptionally light breeze and, furthest south at 48S, Cessna Citation was covering BSL as they ran downwind in a band of westerly breeze, timing their gybe for the north-easterly ascent and towards the GOR’s Australian Ice Limit at 45S.
By Wednesday, the windless isolation of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France in third place ceased as Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild on Cessna Citation and Ross and Campbell Field on BSL hammered through variable conditions furthest south while Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon on Financial Crisis and the South African team of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing finally finished their painful upwind struggle. But as the low pressure system left the two westerly boats battered and bruised, it swiftly moved on to give Campagne de France a hammering as the two leading boats, Cessna Citation and BSL, reached the western end of the Ice Limit at 45S with their speeds getting intense and building rapidly from 13-16 knots.
After 17 days and 4,000 miles of hard racing, the five, double-handed Class40s were undergoing the toughest sailing so far in Leg 2 as the Southern Ocean bared its teeth. Hammering along the GOR’s ice limit at 45S, 700 miles south of Australia, fast reaching in northerly breeze of 30-35 knots, the fleet leader, Cessna Citation, was consistently polling averages of 16 knots with BSL hard on the chase in second reporting surfs of 25 knots as the two boats piled east on the edge of control. Passing north of the western end of GOR’s Australian Ice limit at 10:00 GMT on Friday, Campagne de France in third experienced monstrous, rolling waves and gusts of 30 knots with the forecast predicting that a solid 40 knots was on the way.
Having already endured two days in a violent, three-reef, Roaring Forties centrifuge with gusts up to 45 knots, Financial Crisis and Phesheya-Racing were unable to shake off the strong conditions and with a solid 40-45 knots blasting from the south-west, the two Class40s were barrelling east in building seas. Furthest north in fifth place, the autopilot on Phesheya-Racing was unable to cope with 45 knot squalls, forcing Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire to hand steer and reduce sail. On Financial Crisis, Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in fourth, sailing 70 miles further south than Leggatt and Hutton-Squire, recorded 52.7 knots of wind, but continued to average 11-12 knots throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, taking refuge down below as the storm raged.
On Campagne de France, 1,000 miles directly north of the storm’s centre, and 558 miles east of Financial Crisis, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron also registered 52 knots and steep waves with hail stones strafing the Franco-British duo. At the front of the fleet, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild set a new GOR 24-hour run record of 350 miles on Friday morning with Cessna Citation and continued to poll the fleet’s highest averages on Friday night and into Saturday, extending their lead over Ross and Campbell Field in second with BSL despite the father-and-son duo averaging just under 13 knots for most of Saturday.
Throughout the weekend and into Monday the brutal conditions continued, as the leading pair of Class40s plummet south beyond the eastern extremity of the Australian Ice Limit, led Cessna Citation with drama on BSL in second place as Ross and Campbell Field knifed their spinnaker halyard in a 48-knot squall, managing to save the spinnaker and their carbon fibre mast. In third place, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron made the hard choice to head north with Campagne de France and avoid 50-knot winds chasing them along the ice limit.
Week 4: Tuesday 20 December – Monday 26 December
Speed records continue with strong winds before a Tasman Sea park-up grips the leaders:
Strong conditions continued into Week 4 and down below 47S, Cessna Citation and BSL were breaking and resetting the GOR’s 24-hour distance records as the two boats fast-reached east in sustained 30-35-knot winds. Meanwhile, above the Australian Ice Limit at 45S, Financial Crisis in fourth place was hurled towards the virtual safety barrier in 60-knot, northerly gusts. In 25-30 knots of NNW wind, Campagne de France in third picked up the pace descending south and Phesheya-Racing was back-up to speed, running east above the ice limit and making up ground, trailing Financial Crisis by 312 miles and taking 45 miles from Nannini and Ramon’s lead in 24 hours.
On Tuesday afternoon, the highest sustained speeds in the GOR were recorded by the fleet leaders, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild on their Akilaria RC2 Class40, Cessna Citation, and the New Zealand, father-and-son duo of Ross and Campbell Field in second place on their Verdier-designed Class40, BSL, as the two boats hooked into strong north-westerly wind. Geovoile tracking data revealed that having polled averages of over 14 knots, the Fields clocked a 24-hour run of 355.6nm and two hours later – after polling averages of 16 knots – Colman and Goodchild set the 24-hour barrier at 359.1nm – phenomenal distances for a Class40.
As the leading double-handed Class40s prepared to enter the Tasman Sea with 1,200 miles of Leg 2 remaining, the light conditions threatened to shake up the ranking table for the remaining miles to the finish line in Wellington, New Zealand. Having led the fleet for 13 days and over 3,000 miles, logging phenomenal speeds, Cessna Citation hit the buffers 350 miles below Tasmania at 49S with Ross and Campbell Field, further north in second place with BSL, slowing down, but holding the breeze and closing in. In third place, the Franco-British duo of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron were polling the highest speed averages with Campagne de France as they dropped south taking miles out of the leaders.
There would be no seasonal holiday for the fleet, and while the leading trio of Class40s struggled with fickle and frustrating light airs south and south-east of Tasmania, the two boats further west had a Christmas Day pasting in 47 knots of wind, but delivered impressive speeds. For the leaders, the zone of minimal breeze ballooned and stretched to an area covering 350 miles south of Tasmania on Christmas Day and Cessna Citation and BSL in second place were snared early on 25 December with the speeds dropping to below five knots as the two Class40s struggled east towards South Island, New Zealand. By 18:00 GMT on Christmas Day, Cessna Citation and BSL had increased speeds to nine-knot averages, but Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron on Campagne de France in third place remained glued to the Tasman Sea, 150 miles south of Tasmania with averages dropping to just two knots. While the Franco-British duo on Campagne de France enjoyed Christmas lunch and tried to ignore the lack of wind, conditions were heavy further west for Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in fourth on Financial Crisis and the South African team of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in fifth with Phesheya-Racing with gusts reaching 50 knots for the two trailing Class40s.
Week 5: Tuesday 27 December – Monday 2 January
No respite for the fleet as Cook Strait delivers a final gale:
A tough Christmas Day for the westerly Class40s was followed by a headwind hammering for the two leading boats to the east on Boxing Day in the Tasman Sea and with the fleet’s distance accordion beginning to squeeze in a tune-up to the Wellington arrival overture, boats were closing up as diverse weather effected the fleet after 7,000 miles and 27 days in Leg 2 from Cape Town.
With the fleet spread over 1,200 miles to the west of New Zealand, there were, naturally, immense differences in the conditions for the five boats. The leading duo of Cessna Citation and BSL were separated by 110 miles on Wednesday having entered an area of light airs off the western coast of South Island with 253 miles of Leg 2 remaining for Cessna Citation. Campagne de France in third, 306 miles astern of BSL, was also trapped in a breeze vacuum tantalisingly close the finish line in Wellington and, further west, straddling Tasmania, Financial Crisis in fourth and Phesheya-Racing in fifth were in strong westerly wind and making good progress, despite a batten-breaking crash gybe for the Italian-Spanish team on Financial Crisis.
By Thursday, after 29 days of racing through the high-latitudes of the Indian Ocean, the five Class40s were being severely tested as they approach the Leg 2 finish line in Wellington, New Zealand. At the head of the fleet, race leader Cessna Citation escaped the area of light airs off the west coast of South Island on Wednesday evening GMT, only to run into strong headwinds and punishing seas along the continental shelf with under 200 miles to the finish. The second Kiwi team, Ross and Campbell Field on BSL, came to within 70 miles of Cessna Citation at 03:00 GMT on Thursday as they chased Colman and Goodchild along the coast. In mid-fleet, the Franco-British duo of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron in third on Campagne de France remained trapped in light airs 380 miles west of South Island, showing brief bursts of speed before slowing down early evening on Wednesday.
While Campagne de France suffered mid-Tasman Sea, the Italian-Spanish duo of Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in fourth on Financial Crisis continued to poll the best speeds in the fleet, fast reaching in 25-30 knots of breeze despite the batten damage sustained on Wednesday and stealing an impressive haul of miles from Mabire and Merron. Meanwhile, the South African duo of Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in fifth place on Phesheya-Racing were dropping below 45S, running downwind in strong breeze, also sustaining batten damage in a crash gybe 120 miles south of Tasmania.
Colman and Goodchild rounded Cape Farewell at the northern tip of South Island at 14:00 GMT on Thursday (03:00 local on Friday), fighting against headwinds. With Cook Strait set for a 40-50 knot south-easterly blast, potentially gusting to 60 knots, the stretch of water separating South Island from North Island was not a location to be caught in. Cessna Citation tacked hard in 35 knots of south-easterly wind in extremely ugly seas ahead of the main gale, sailing close to d’Urville Island and Port Gore on the northern tip of South Island before they attacked the 14-mile wide wind funnel at the narrowest part of the strait between Cape Terrawhiti on North Island and Perano Head on Arapawa Island in Marlborough Sound at 06:00 GMT on Friday with 18 miles remaining to the finish line. One hour later, as the wind built to 45 knots, Cessna Citation barrelled through the 2km-wide entrance to Wellington Harbour between Pencarrow Head and the Miramar Peninsular in torrential rain and grey, rolling waves as daylight faded fast. Colman and Goodchild left the partially exposed Barrett Reef to port and crossed the GOR Leg 2 finish line off Worser Bay on the harbour’s western shore, taking victory in Leg 2 at 08:20:40 GMT (21:20:40 local) on Friday 30 December after 30 days 22 hours 20 minutes and 40 seconds, netting the maximum of 30 points for Leg 2.
While Colman and Goodchild shot into Wellington Harbour in terrible conditions just ahead of the worst of the gale, Ross and Campbell Field on BSL weren’t so lucky. The Fields rounded Cape Farewell in the middle of the New Zealand night and ran straight into the south-easterly Force 7-8 howling through Cook Strait. BSL tacked briefly onto port towards Golden Bay lying behind the 15-mile long Farewell Spit jutting east into the strait from the cape, with slow and painful progress. With the breeze building to 60 knots and the wind instruments torn from the top of the mast, BSL headed towards the North Island shore finding shelter from the gale and at 10:38 on New Year’s Day in New Zealand (21:38 GMT 31 December), The Kiwi father-and-son team of Ross and Campbell Field took second place in Leg 2 of the double-handed Global Ocean Race (GOR) with their Class40 BSL, crossing the finish line in Wellington harbour after 32 days 11 hours 38 minutes and 40 seconds and 7,000 miles of racing from Cape Town South Africa - just over one and-a-half days behind Leg 2 winners, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild on Cessna Citation.
Shortly after sunrise the following day, Campagne de France beat along the northern coast of Cook Strait towards Wellington Harbour close inshore to the exposed rocks of West Ledge before bearing away near the eastern entrance to the harbour at Pencarrow Head and hoisting a masthead asymmetric for the final miles to the finish line in Worser Bay and at 09:49 on Monday local time (20:40 GMT 01/01/12), Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron crossed the finish line in third place after 33 days 10 hours 40 minutes and 15 seconds. Mabire and Merron’s hard-won podium place kept them in second place on points behind Ross and Campbell Field on BSL and two points ahead of Leg 2 winner, Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild with Cessna Citation.
Having endured some of the worst conditions in the fleet during Leg 2, Marco Nannini and his co-skipper, Hugo Ramon, had typically robust conditions as the duo logged the final miles of Leg 2 through Cook Strait with 20-25 knots and a big sea off North Island’s southern coast with Financial Crisis carrying two reefs and staysail. Bearing away round the Barrett Reef Buoy, Financial Crisis entered Wellington Harbour and the duo could begin to relax for the first time in over one month spent locked the Roaring Forties, finishing Leg 2 at 06:13:45 GMT on Monday 2 December (19:13 local) after 33 days 20 hours 13 minutes and 45 seconds and 7,000 miles of racing.
Week 6: Tuesday 3 January – Wednesday 4 January
Final boat finishes after 36 days in the Southern Ocean:
In the moonless and cloudless pre-dawn, Phesheya-Racing ‘turned left’ out of Cook Strait between the Barrett Reef buoy and Pencarrow Head for a final, bone-shaking beat in 45 knots under triple-reefed main and staysail. Leaving the exposed and jagged rocks of Barrett Reef in a mass white water to port, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire crossed the finish line off Worser Bay at 15:14:30 GMT (04:14:30 local) on Wednesday 4 January taking fifth place, completing the 7,500 mile course from Cape Town to Wellington in 36 days 05 hours 14 minutes and 30 seconds.
GOR LEG 2 FINISHING POSITIONS/SPEEDS/TIMES AND BOAT DATA:
1. Cessna Citation: Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild (NZL/GBR). Akilaria RC2 Class40. Launched 2011. Finish 30/12/2011 08:20:40 UTC. 30d 22h 20m 40s. Av Spd 10.08kts. Dist 7,484nm. Best 24hrs 359.1nm
2. BSL: Ross and Campbell Field (NZL). Tyker 40 Class40. Launched 2008. Finish 31/12/2011 21:38:40 UTC. 32d 11h 38m 40s (Gap to 1st 1d 11h 38m 40s) Av Spd 9.7kts. Dist 7,564nm. Best 24hrs 355.6nm
3. Campagne de France: Halvard Mabire/Miranda Merron (FRA/GBR). Pogo 40S² Class40. Launched 2011. Finish 01/01/2012 06:13:45 UTC. 33d 10h 40m 15s Gap to 1st 2d 12h 19m 35s) Av Spd 9.37kts. Dist 7521nm. Best 24hrs 303.7nm
4. Financial Crisis: Marco Nannini/Paul Peggs (ITA/GBR). First Generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2008. Finish 02/01/2012 06:13:45 UTC. 33d 20h 13m 45s (Gap to 1st 2d 21h 53m 05s) Av Spd 9.55kts. Dist 7758nm. Best 24hrs 298.3kts
5. Phesheya-Racing: Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire (RSA/RSA). First generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2007. Finish 04/01/2012 15:14:30 UTC. 36d 06h 53m 50s (Gap to 1st 5d 06h 53m 50s) Av Spd 8.8kts. Dist 7651nm. Best 24hrs 273.2nm
6. Sec. Hayai: Nico Budel/Ruud van Rijsewijk (NDL/NDL). First generation Akilaria Class40. Launched 2008. Dismasted/RTD
GOR LEG 2 POINTS:
1. BSL: 64 (4 points at the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate + 25 points for 2nd place in Leg 2)
2. Campagne de France: 56 points (5 points at the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate + 20 points for 3rd place in Leg 2)
3. Cessna Citation: 54 (6 points at the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate + 30 points for Leg 2 win)
4. Financial Crisis: 42 (3 points at the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate + 15 points for 4th place in Leg 2)
5. Phesheya-Racing: 24 (2 points at the Celox Sailing Scoring Gate)
6. Sec. Hayai: 6 (RTD from Leg 2)
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