TJV Update–It Ain’t Easy: The multihulls–which started four days later–are catching the monohulls, and the whole fleet is about to go into turbo drive, running downwind in the trades toward the equator. But there have been more than a few dings. Monohull Open 60 leader ECOVER is now sliding down the rankings after chafed halyards dumped one spinnaker and then a second in the water, shredding them into spaghetti. They have one spinnaker left for all the downwind running to Brazil–and a sweatshop’s annual quota of sewing to recover another–which is liking racing the Indy 500 without a top gear, or spare parts in the pit. It was a nice run until now, boys….But new leader “Virbac” is over the horizon, and being chased by a shrinking fleet: top contender Bernard Stamm retired over the weekend after deciding that he couldn’t sail all the way to Brazil with a chestful of broken ribs. Stamm took a nasty fall the first day out and tried to live through the pain, while keeping quiet about the injury. These guys are as tough as they come, but…..

The trimaran fleet is also living up to its fragile reputation. Italian tri “TIM” has dropped out after the hull cracked open and started taking on water. Ellen MacArthur and her co-skipper Alain Gautier had to stop in the Canaries to replace a staysail which ripped in a 45-knot squall, and their main halyard, which chafed through. “Banque Popular” is also pit stopping, thanks to damage to its port rudder. “Bonduelle” lost its central rudder after hitting a piece of wood. “Gitana” broke a stay and is heading for port. And last, but not least, “Bayer Crop Science” is starting to peel apart and also has to head in for repairs. Critics have been complaining for years that these trimaran Open 60 racing machines are built too light for real ocean sailing. And I would say the verdict is in…..Pathetic.



Sunrise from “Team Cowes”: “This would make it all worth it if I wasn’t so fu*#ing tired, wet and hungry…..”

(Photo: Team Cowes)