It was the first shock moment for Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney in Globe40. The Austrian and the Welshman were in fourth place on stage four from Sydney to Valparaiso. In the Roaring Fourties, they had just moved a little to the north due to approaching storm lows - as had their pursuers "Jangada Racing" and "Whiskey Jack".
"We thought the race was over"
Lisa Berger reports: "Then we heard a strange new noise. A glance upwards showed us the reason: one of the stays had come loose and was flying around downwind. At first we thought it had broken. As this is a potentially dangerous situation so far from land, we thought the race was over and we would have to continue in safety mode to ensure that the mast stayed in place and we reached the next stopover harbour safely."
Very quickly, the "Wilson" crew came up with a plan that was as solution-orientated as it was bold. Lisa Berger explains: "We thought that we would continue our course to the north-east in order to find lighter winds there and then secure it later. But we quickly realised that we had to get into the mast to secure the stay. We had to stop the swinging around and the risk of further damage."
So they went Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney with "Wilson" on a downwind course. "The wind dropped a little and she sailed super stable as if she knew that we needed her to be very focused now," says the skipper, describing the behaviour of her aged but solid Akilaria RC2 from 2010. Then she pulls her co-skipper into the mast.
MacGyver action in Globe40 saves the mast
"Up he went, hanging there like a ballerina as always, holding on to the mast with all his might as he rescued our mast in the middle of the night and in the middle of the Pacific. Incredibly, he managed to screw the stay back on! We are happy that it is not broken and that we can continue our race. After the storm, as soon as the conditions improve, we will go back into the mast and carry out proper checks. We never give up!"
Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney were rewarded for their prompt problem-solving in inhospitable conditions for the time being: they defended their position on 12 January and continued their course eastwards on the northern flank of the approaching storm at the beginning of the week. With a gap of around 800 nautical miles to the leaders from Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium, the "Wilson" duo still had just over 3800 nautical miles to Valparaiso on this fourth Globe40 leg. Here are current "Wilson" scenes from the South Pacific.
On Monday morning, Richard Palmer and Ruper Holmes, who were in fifth place, also reported on the stormy conditions in the South Pacific. A message from the "Jangada" crew said: "We have taken in a third reef for the first time since we left Lorient (ed.: starting harbour of the Globe40). We also reached a boat speed of 26.1 knots for the first time. It's also the first time we've sailed with head protection. In these conditions, safety comes first..."
The movements of the boat are mostly controllable, but occasionally unpredictable." Richard Palmer
At the front of the fleet on Monday morning, the Belgians still had a good 3000 nautical miles to go to their Chilean destination. Benoît Hantzperg and Djemila Tassin, who have just broken the 24-hour record for Class40ies once againwere aiming for Valparaiso on the Eigrenze at the 50th parallel south. The Belgians had recently gained a small cushion of 23 nautical miles ahead of their permanent rivals from Team Crédit Mutuel.
Three Globe40 duos sail at the ice edge
Antoine Carpentier and Alan Roberts were travelling a good one knot slower than the Belgians at the start of the week with "Crédit Mutuel". The first chasers of the leading duo also decided in favour of the extreme southerly course along the ice edge. Just under 750 nautical miles behind the Belgian and French Globe40 pacemakers, José Guilherme Caldas and Luiz Bolina drove "Barco Brasil" forward in the storm. Their lead over Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney was a good 50 nautical miles on the morning of 12 January. Here the Globe40 tracker shows the positions of the six boats in the South Pacific.
Aged but solid - here Lisa Berger presents her Akilaria RC2 "Wilson" before the start of the race:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
