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GLOBAL OCEAN RACE

GOR: Kelp-trouble off the Falklands for the South African team

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As Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel crossed the Punta del Este finish line on Wednesday evening taking first place in Leg 3 with Class40 Cessna Citation, there was drama to the south off the Falkland Islands for Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire on Phesheya-Racing and some unusually civilised behaviour for Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon off the coast of Argentina with Financial Crisis.
 
While personnel from the GOR Race Organisation were preparing to board RIBs at the Yacht Club Punta del Este and head into the South Atlantic for a rendezvous with Cessna Citation, it was noted that the South African Class40, Phesheya-Racing was near-stationary and very close to the Jason Island archipelago just north-west of the Falkland Islands mid-evening GMT on Wednesday. Calls were immediately made to family members in Cape Town and to the Class40 to confirm that yacht’s status.
 
On Thursday morning, Phillippa Hutton-Squire described the scene: “We had sailed straight into a huge raft of kelp!” she confirmed by email. “The kelp was trailing out the back of the boat like the boat had grown a long pony tail.” The South Africans hove-to and began to clear the thick, slippery blades and stipes from the rudders and keel as Phesheya-Racing began to drift downwind towards the rocky shoreline of Jason West Cay: “I pulled the kelp up to Nick with the boat hook and then Nick pulled the kelp to the bow to free it from the keel,” continues Hutton-Squire. “Eventually, we couldn’t reach any more, so we changed tacks and by this time we were very close to Jason West Cay.”
 
With Phesheya-Racing changing tack, the size of the kelp raft increased. “The pieces of kelp were so big on this tack that we got the halyard around them to try and pull them off,” explains Hutton-Squire. We were very successful with two big chunks, but after three hours of this we were still entangled in kelp.” As Phesheya-Racing drifted closer to the rocks, an alternative method of kelp removal was needed fast. Leggatt quickly climbed into a full wetsuit with dive bottle and with and MOB retrieval line trailing behind the boat, he leapt into the freezing water.

02/03/2012 10:13:00 © riproduzione riservata

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