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BT GLOBAL CHALLENGE - RUSSIAN FRIGATE KEEPS TOSHIBA WAVE WARRIOR WAITING Cape Town (UK), Wednesday 9th April 1997 Toshiba Wave Warrior suffered the indignity of being made to cool her heels for an hour and a half this morning after crossing the finishing line for the fourth leg of the BT Global Challenge. What kept her waiting wasn't the customs formalities, which were completed smoothly, but a Russian naval frigate that was stuck in the entrance to Cape Town's Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. The frigate was in Cape Town to join in the celebrations for the South African navy's 75th anniversary, along with a whole host of ships from around the world, including the Royal Navy's HMS Chatham. Anxious friends, family members, media and spectators gathered on the quayside in the early morning sunshine, waiting for Toshiba to make her triumphant entry. Some had been up all night welcoming in Group 4 and Concert who had come alongside within minutes of each other at around 4am local time. Toshiba Wave Warrior was finally able to greet her supporters (including crew members of Group 4 and Concert, looking dazed and confused but happy) at around 9am local time, and as she came into the V&A Waterfront her theme tune, Crowded House's "Always Take The Weather With You" played out over the loud speakers. Race mastermind Chay Blyth whooped his welcome - he too, had been up all night - and the assembled group cheered loudly. Concert crewman Ed Harrison dashed down to the waterside to greet his girlfriend Jo Dawson, who stood on Toshiba's stern nursing a broken arm (set in a plaster cast back in Sydney), looking windswept and grinning from ear to ear. Assorted camera men and photographers got their first daylight shots on a beautifully clear day, with Table Mountain serving as a dramatic backdrop. Group 4 skipper Mike Golding puffed on a cigarette and offered his congratulations to Toshiba skipper, Simon Walker, who hugged his two children, toddler Jack and baby Charlotte. Toshiba crew volunteer Geoff Ward, aged 55, gulped a well-deserved beer and said: "it's the hardest thing I have ever, ever done. Would I do it again? Well, going the wrong way again, no, it's doubtful - but I'd love to do it the other way...." Alex Sizer, a 21 year old Group 4 crew member and one of the youngest women taking part in the race, chatted on the quayside in the sunshine and relived her experience of the fourth leg. "It was pretty dreadful," she said, with a wry smile, "but I'd go back there - I really would. It was really tough but I know I can do it, so I'd go through it again. The worst part was being physically uncomfortable, being cold and wet almost all the time. Getting up and putting on cold, damp clothes is so miserable, and it really got to me." Besides dealing with the sopping wet sleeping bags and underlayers, Group 4 had another problem; they ran out of toilet roll and had to improvise with kitchen paper, carefully tearing sheets in half and then unravelling them to make the precious paper go further. "It's a good job we didn't run out of kitchen paper, or we'd have had to start tearing up our books," grinned Alex. Whilst the crews of Group 4, Concert and Toshiba Wave Warrior are once again enjoying being back on dry land, savouring a cold beer and eating real food with family and friends, the 11 remaining yachts to cross the finish line are envying every moment. Despite all efforts to join in the celebrations at the Waterfront in Cape Town, the wind is doing its best to prevent them from doing so. Simon Montague on Nuclear Electric reports; "The inevitable has happened. The punishment of poor tortured circumnavigators. Timed to perfection, with food almost run out and land almost in sight, there's no wind again. The current is against us and distance to finish figures are increasing, we are heading backwards to sydney. Cancel the beer, cancel the party, book 14 ambulances to take us direct to the South African Institute for Mentally Deranged Sailors. We can't take any more! Psychological treatment out here is primitive and barely effective.....but wait, is that the floor tilting? Is that the sound of rushing water beyond the galley wall? Praise be to the Wind Pig, we are on the move again...". At 10:06 hrs GMT today Nuclear Electric was lying in 11th place with a predicted arrival time of 12:33 hrs GMT on 11th April. Commercial Union is the next yacht due to cross the finish line in fourth place. She is currently 77 miles away holding a central course between Motorola's more southerly and Save the Children's more northerly courses. Save the Children reported that she is finding these conditions "soul destroying". Having decided to take a more northerly course in search of different weather after her weather fax problems, 200 miles from the finish she is suddenly experiencing even less wind than the other yachts, averaging just 2 knots. Motorola is still in a strong position to keep Commercial Union under pressure. Her boat speed should theoretically increase with a 3/4 knot of extra help from the westerly flowing Agulhas Current as opposed to the northerly yachts who are hugging the coast in the hope of an offshore sea breeze. Only 26 miles were separating Motorola and Commercial Union at 10:06 hrs GMT and after seeing Group 4's impressive gain on Concert's margin of 15 miles we now know that anything is possible in these conditions. Motorola wrote this morning, "as the 38th day of our neverending journey approaches, the great continent of Africa looms tantalizingly close, but there is still no sight of land. Indeed a prominent feature of this voyage across the Southern Ocean has been the almost complete absence of any signs of life". In the relatively few hours remaining for the BT Global Challenge yachts to finish this unbelievable tough leg, minds are turned not to delivering daily reports to Race HQ, but instead understandably, to concentratinng on every wind shift in order not to lose ground and valuable celebration time. Pause to Remember, lying in 14th place, 596 miles from the finish, was mainly worried that her food supplies are running low, so with no choice in main meals they just have to eat what is left. The crew are running a competition to produce the best snack with the minimal ingredients remaining, explaining that "any pudding, suet or pastry can enter. Points are given for inventiveness, taste and presentation". Another dilema for the crew, after not expecting to be at sea for so long, is that they are on the last page of their log book with three more days to go. "As all paper pads are wet, diary paper is being confiscated", explains Chris Rainer. The next race news will be filed on Thursday 10th April at 12:00 hrs GMT. To keep you up to date with the latest information, the yachts are now being polled every two hours. 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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