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12:27 PM Thu 22 Jan 2009 GMT
Just four hours after solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans crossed the finish line off Wellington on racing yacht, Roaring Forty, the British double-handed team in the Portim?o Global Ocean Race followed the Belgian yachtsman at 01:30:35 GMT (14:30:35 local) this morning on Class 40, Team Mowgli and completed Leg 2 of this round-the-world event.
Jeremy Salvesen and co-skipper, David Thomson, completed the 6,900 mile voyage through the Southern Ocean from Cape Town, South Africa to New Zealand in 37 days, 15 hours, 00 minutes and 35 seconds to take third place in the double-handed division.
'We were quite ecstatic to see the finish line,' admitted Salvesen from Queens Wharf, shortly after docking and clearing Customs. 'It has been a long, long journey. It has been a longer leg for us in many ways as we had a pretty rough time out there.' The early stages of the race all belonged to Team Mowgli. On the fifth day after starting Leg 2 in Cape Town, Salvesen and Thomson took the lead, recording the best speed in the fleet and were the furthest south in the double-handed division as the first low pressure system rolled eastwards towards the yachts. On the 23rd December as the second, big low pressure hit the fleet, Team Mowgli was holding a 62 mile lead over the Chileans on Desafio Cabo de Hornos as the British continued to dive south into the Southern Ocean, plunging to within 90 miles of the Portim?o Global Ocean Race latitude limit at 50?S.
'On the next leg, we're going to go with whatever weather systems we see,' continues Salvesen. 'But we'll be more warey, I think. We really don't want to get caught in another hurricane, especially one that hasn't been forecast!' On Christmas Eve, a 60 knot gust and an enormous wave washed over Team Mowgli, destroying most of the satellite communications gear on board and destroying the pushpit. Despite this experience, the British duo have no fear of the Southern Ocean: 'So, I don't have a problem with going south,' Salvesen confirms. 'I don't have a problem with being cold, but I do have a problem with hurricanes.' Salvesen's co-skipper, David Thomson, agrees: 'I'm looking forward to getting back into the Southern Ocean,' he comments. 'But not going back into 80 knots like we had in the last leg. We've both learnt a great deal and know we don't want to get ourselves in that position again. No matter how good it looks at the time.'
For Salvesen, the storm was painful, but invaluable: 'It has given us a better understanding and confidence in the boat,' he believes. 'Now, 50 knots doesn't hold so much fear for us. When it relaxed down to 50 knots, we cheered to the rafters and thought it was bloody lovely!' Four days after the hurricane, Salvesen and Thomson were overhauled by Beluga Racer and Desafio Cabo de Hornos and on New Year's Day, a cracked boom further affected performance and the duo became increasingly isolated from the fleet's front runners. Finally, on 11th January, the bowsprit on Team Mowgli was ripped from the foredeck, leaving the yachtsmen totally unable to sail competitively and the route to Wellington and the finish line became a hard slog to nurse the boat to safety.
A further lesson learnt from the brutal conditions in the high latitudes has also been invaluable for the British duo who only met for the first time within a few weeks of the start of Leg 1. 'When you are going through a thing like the hurricane, with the enormous pressures you are under in a very confined space for a very long time, it's a difficult thing to manage,' explains Salvesen. 'For all of us in the race, a big part of it is the human challenge. The challenge of personal relationships and keeping the team spirit going through the tough times. Obviously, you have a flare up of temper, sometimes, but you just leave it on the last wave and get on with the job.
www.portimaorace.com
by Oliver Dewar
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Sailing
