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BT GLOBAL CHALLENGE - A WARM WELCOME FOR THE YACHTS Southampton (UK), Tuesday 1 April 1997 The last 24 hours has seen a much appreciated improvement in weather conditions for the fleet of the BT Global Challenge and the crews have at last been able to enjoy the novelty of basking in the rays of the southern sun for the first time in three weeks. The weather, as always an important aspect of life for the British, was the main focus of the reports from the fleet today, but "with no access to soccer results we're left with nothing else to talk about anyway", explains Dale Harrison on board Motorola. During the prolonged bouts of terrible weather conditions that the fleet has had, the effects on the mood of the crew become more pronounced. In these conditions Dale jokingly describes the necessity of continually transforming into Spiderman to walk on the walls (or bulkheads) with the boat heeled over at 45 degrees, or Superman whilst flying through the companionway in mid air as the boat lurches down the cliff face of another mountainous wave, or Elastic Man to contort and hyper-extend his arms the required 20 feet over the bows to retrieve the flapping sails. Now, with the return of the sun, the crews are reportedly crawling out of their shells again to enjoy the experience and demands of ocean racing. With the yachts' weather faxes clearly showing the approach of a huge wind shift to the south/southwest yesterday, Group 4 had to prepare herself for the potential of some high speed close spinnaker reaching. Her only problem was that during the last storm she lost her jockey pole over the side, with which she braces the spinnaker guy in such conditions, when a huge wave broke the lashings. Yesterday, in anticipation for the wind shift, the "Group 4 design team" set about devising a replacement system. "Bits from the main engine, spare blocks, scan strut etc. were put together and four hours later a makeshift jockey pole was ready for action". All that was needed was the windshift to try it out. When it finally appeared it set her off on a more northerly course, and sadly was not needed. At 07:50 hrs GMT today, Group 4 was still leading the fleet. Toshiba Wave Warrior, taking a slightly more northerly course in the southern group of yachts has succeeded in pinching second place from Concert. She is now rapidly chasing Group 4, from some 18 miles behind, whilst building on a four mile lead over Concert. Save the Children still leads the more northerly group of yachts, but in the last 24 hours she has lost ground and is now some 64 miles behind Commercial Union. Strong south, southwesterly winds are still forecast and the entire fleet is presently closing Cape Town at speeds of up to 11 knots. Commercial Union has topped the highest 24 hour run of 228 miles closely followed by Save the Children with 227. There is huge excitement on Nuclear Electric as her crew have welcomed a new member on board. The crew think that they may well be on the verge of an extraordinary scientific discovery. The story goes like this: "last night by moonlight, the duty watch saw large numbers of fish leaping just in front of the boat, when one hit the mast and got tangled in the halyards. We went forward to discover what looked like a baby dolphin, about 2 foot long. Untangling the dolphin and checking it for injuries, our medic and fish expert realised that the markings were quite unlike any seen before, neither could its long beak and white and yellow be matched with any reference books. To make space for the dolphin, inevitably named Flipper, we have had to ditch the anchor chain over the side and partially flood the bilges with sea water to provide a temporary home. We have sent a detailed description to American dolphin expert Ure J King, who has confirmed that we appear to have come across a new miniature species of dolphin. The International Institute of Texas has provisionally allocated the name Looflirpa Nuclearis and is making arrangements for an immediate examination of Flipper on arrival in Cape Town. As can be imagined, we are in a state of high excitement while still trying to concentrate on the racing". For updated information on the BT Global Challenge : Internet site : http//www.btchallenge.com Fax database : 0990 321123 (+44 990 321123 from outside UK) Recorded telephone information line : 0891 505550 (UK only) Public enquiry bureau : 01703 212124 (+44 1703 212124 from outside UK) Ceefax page 388 (UK only) |
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