Following the recent storm there have been a couple of changes within the fleet…
Roman Villa has been renamed ooo ahh! and has a new skipper in McGrath!. (The sail fabricators are a little busy at the moment however so the Model has not yet been updated to reflect this change).
A skipper change also aboard Ajax Hamster Jam where Denman is now in charge.
The storm also caused radio damage to a number of boats and at the present time the following boats are out of contact - Its Just Not Cricket, Robots in Disguise, Halfway Up Virginia, Donkeys Ride Again, Mid Table Struggler and LANESRA.
The Race Committee hope that these boats will establish contact again at some time in the future but in the meantime they will still be participating in the Challenge. It should be noted, however, that should any of these boats still be [i]lost [/i] when the Race is concluded they will not be included in the final overall rankings.
And so on to the progress for the 2nd week of the Leg to Cape Town - a week in which crewman A Young fell over the side of 22 of the competitors.
This update will be brief…
Pool A
Zuluwarriors holds the lead for most of the leg but only narrowly - and in the last few tacks is overtaken by Y’all be bad and Kelly’s Heroes. It’s still very close though so plenty of racing left.
Double leg winner and defending champion Ardley Athletic is bringing up the rear.
Pool B
Green Peace, Honeyballs and Cow Tipping Frogs hold the front three places throughout the week but some poor navigation allows Honeyballs to edge ahead of Green Peace in the final couple of tacks.
A man-overboard and then a run-aground on Flinders Island sees Lythgoe’s Disciples bringing up the rear with a massive amount of ground to make up.
Pool C
LUFC 1963 held the lead on all but 1 tack despite losing a man over at the end of tack 6. The Drogs is 2nd and A Team of Johnsons 3rd - and another high placing for A Team of Johnsons would be very timely in the overall standings considering the current leader’s, (Ardley Athletic), present predicament.
Mid Table Struggler struggles at the rear but as he is one of the boats without communication we don’t know if there are any issues, apart from poor sailing, that are effecting his performance.
Pool D
Lukes Giants stays out in front all week and even extends his lead. By the close he is approaching waypoint 4, while the chasing pack are at or closing in on waypoint 3, although he has a close call with the French Southern and Antartic Lands. Fantastic sailing there - it’s going to be a mistake by Lukes Giants or some real heroics onboard one of the other boats for Lukes Giants not to be first into Cape Town.
Naked Pirates is in his usual position at the back.
2 Weeks to go - plenty of racing left.