The final leg of the Globe 40 race is coming to a conclusion, and the PNW’s own Craig Horsfield is holding on to the lead with 450 miles to go.
This leg has had very challenging conditions from the start. It is ending as it started, with a match race between the two Globe 40 overall leaders, Horsfield’s Amhas and the Dutch team aboard Sec Hayai. To win the round the world race overall, Amhas would have to put a boat between them and the Dutch. That seems highly unlikely, since the third place boat is 300+ miles behind.
Here’s the most recent press release:
After suffering in recent days in the Azores the passage of a front generating winds up to 60 knots, the competitors of the GLOBE40 will have to face today and Monday a new depression on arrival in the Bay of Biscay with winds up to 50 knots and seas up to 10 m deep in the northern part of the Gulf. Faced with this situation, the leader of the AMHAS stage yesterday decided to slow down voluntarily to get behind the hardest part of the phenomenon.
A difficult choice, as Craig Horsfield explained to us “We’re going to try to slow down, we’re going to look east by slowing down. We only have one mainsail and 3 reefs. Above all we are disgusted after all these days of racing and hard work to get a lead that we have effectively stopped for now. It is hard to do and to accept”.
GRYPHON SOLO 2, which passed through the Azores yesterday, expresses the extreme harshness of these moments: Joe Harris “Last night was the most difficult night of our entire trip around the world. The wind and sea state continued to build until we were in 9m seas and winds gusting to 60 knots. We had prepared with 3 reefs in the mainsail and the staysail, which worked well up to 50 knots of wind. But the gusts overhead rocked the boat hard and made Roger and I, huddled in the cabin, wonder if we were going to get knocked down and rolled over. It was scary. We were both thinking of life rafts, EPIRBs and rescues. But eventually the 60 knot gusts died down and we were able to continue…. It makes you think.
SEC HAYAI in second position maintains a significant lead over GRYPHON SOLO 2 (284 miles this morning)..
The first arrivals in Lorient are scheduled for Wednesday 15. (photo Roger Junet)
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.