"Barclays Adventurer"
At 9.23 am (GMT), after 31 days, 20 hours and 23 minutes, "Barclays Adventurer" was the first ship in the Global Challenge fleet to sail across the finish line just outside Buenos Aires.
Only 15 minutes later, "VAIO" took second place on the podium. The youngest skipper of the fleet, Stuart Jackson, 28 years old, was able to secure the victory even before the very experienced and oldest skipper of the fleet, Amedeo Sorrentino, 49 years old.
In around three to four hours (GMT - that is, today, Thursday lunchtime) "Samsung" will probably get the third place on the podium. "BP Explorer" with the Thuringian Holger Bindel will arrive another two to three hours later and take the ungrateful fourth place. "BG Spirit" and "Spirit of Sark" with the Germans BarbarSturdy and Jürgen Dieris are also expected today. The first six yachts will therefore arrive within less than ten hours. And that after more than 6,000 nautical miles and 32 days at sea. The first stage has never been so close in the twelve-year history of the Global Challenge. That means we can expect a lot for the further stages.
Birgit Obermüller (see also portrait in YACHT 20/04) on "Me To You" currently has 323 miles to sail and is expected on Saturday morning. (Rainer Seifert)
Positions today, Thursday morning (2004-11-04 at 09:38 GMT)
1. "Barclays Adventurer", at the finish 2. "VAIO", at the finish3. "Samsung", 25 nm to the stage destination4. "BP Explorer", 38 nm5. "BG Spirit", 59 nm6. "Spirit of Sark", 72 nm7. "SAIC LJolla", 157 nm8. "Imagine it. Done", 268 nm9. "Team Stelmar", 280 nm10. "Me To You", 323 nm11. "Pindar", 460 nm12. "Team Save the Children", 723 nm