On Saturday, the yacht “BG Spirit” won the fifth stage of the 2004/05 Global Challenge circumnavigation by a huge margin with Australian skipper Andy Forbes.
Exactly 34 days and 24 minutes after the start in Cape Town, at 8.24 a.m. local time, in a weak wind, they bobbed across the finish line in front of Boston. Her closest pursuer, "Barclays Adventurer", was over 240 nautical miles behind.
“BG Spirit” had gained the lead ten days beforehand in a daring and skilful tactical maneuver. When a large high-pressure system appeared, they sailed a much more easterly course and moved far away from the rest of the fleet and the optimal course line. A daring maneuver, but one that paid off. Because while the entire fleet was standing still in the center of the peak, “BG Spirit” was able to make up over 180 nautical miles in just one day, and the team did not give up this lead.
After a screwed up fourth stage from Sydney to Cape Town as the overall leader, “BG Spirit” is once again a favorite for the overall victory in around six weeks in Portsmouth / England. It wasn't until a good 36 hours later, on Sunday evening, that the “Barclays Adventurer” reached the port of Boston as the second yacht. In the course of the night “Sony VAIO” and “SAIC LJolla” then sailed across the finish line. Despite this good result, all three yachts have little chance of a podium place in the overall standings.
It got really exciting on Monday morning. Shortly after 9 o'clock, three yachts fought for the best position of the pursuers. After 36 days at sea and over 6,500 miles sailed, they crossed the finish line in just four minutes and 57 seconds! The trio was led by the successful yacht "BP Explorer" with the Thuringian Holger Bindel. Despite the fourth place on this stage, they remain tied with 61 points in first place with “BG Spirit” in the overall standings. “Spirit of Sark” with the Westphalian Jürgen Dieris followed just 92 seconds later. Both yachts have apparently been fighting a private duel since the first stage, because they are always close together. In the past 36 days, they were rarely more than 10 nautical miles apart. With this result, “Spirit of Sark” is in third place in the overall ranking. Another three minutes and 25 seconds later, “Imagine IT. Done”with the only female skipper Dee Caffari the goal.
The finish of “Team Stelmar” and “Me To You” with Birgit Obermüller from Bremerhaven shortly after midnight on Tuesday was also exciting. “Me To You” almost managed to catch up with “Team Stelmar” by six nautical miles in the last six hours. In the end, “Team Stelmar” reached the finish just eight minutes before “Me to you”.
Shortly before the end of the ten-month and a good 20,000 nautical-mile circumnavigation of the world against wind and waves, it looks as if the three podium candidates have already been decided. After five stages, three yachts are in the lead with just under 10 points ahead of the midfield, and there are only two stages left to sail. From Boston on June 19 the journey continues on the 3,000 nautical miles to LRochelle / France. From there, the four-day final spurt to Portsmouth / England will start on July 13th.
The yachts “BP Explorer” with Holger Bindel and “BG Spirit” (61 points each) and “Spirit of Sark” with Jürgen Dieris (58 points) are in first to third place. "SAIC LJolla" and "Barclays" with 53 and 52 points each, followed by "Samsung" with 47 points, occupy the front midfield with theoretical chances for the podium. “Sony VAIO” with 44 points, “Me to you” with Birgit Obermüller and 43 points and “Team Stelmar” with 41 points are in the lower midfield and therefore without any chance of a podium place. At the end of the day, “Imagine IT. Done”,“Pindar”and“Team Save the Children”with 41, 35 and 34 points, respectively.
From on board the "Me to you", Birgit Obermüller reports exclusively on the final spurt of the fifth stage of the Global Challenge:
The last four hours to the finish were exciting because we delivered a true match race with “Stelmar”. In the afternoon we saw a yacht on the horizon after floating around in thick foggy soup for almost three days. And when the last position was announced on Monday evening, it was confirmed that we had Stelmar in front of us. What a motivational boost! We worked hard again, both guards together we fought the last few hours together. First under the spinnaker and then with the genoa, which I trimmed, we made good meter by meter, "Stelmar" came closer and closer.
Shortly before Boston we were hit by a few gusts and should have either changed the foresail or pulled a reef into the main, but we didn't want to lose any of our power, and a change would have cost too much time. So we just gritted our teeth and rode out the gusts. In the end, Stelmar saved her lead and crossed the line eight minutes ahead of us!
For all of us it is always fascinating how close the distances between the yachts can be after 37 days at sea and over 6000 nautical miles. Even if we often had the impression during this stage that everything was actually over, it remained exciting until the end. We were particularly pleased that we docked shortly after 1 a.m. and came to our well-deserved reception with champagne, beer and burgers - because after 2 a.m. there is no more alcohol in Boston.
We celebrated until 3:30 in the morning (mainly with col and apple juice), then fell into our bunks and started working on the boat again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, because this stopover is very short. The 6th stage will start again on June 19th.
Birgit Obermüller from “Me to You” sends greetings from the “East coast”.