GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – The leading Class40 in the Global Ocean Race (GOR) is approaching the final finish line of the 30,000-mile circumnavigation in Leg 5 from Charleston, USA, to Les Sables d’Olonne, France, and the two skippers, Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough, are flat lining east through the Bay of Biscay in following wind with just 137 miles remaining for Cessna Citation on Tuesday afternoon and an ETA at the finish line of mid-afternoon on Wednesday for the GOR’s overall winner.

Meanwhile, in second place, the Italian-Slovak duo of Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo with Class40 Financial Crisis are piling towards the Bay of Biscay trailing Colman and Cavanough by 328 miles at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday with a 464-mile lead over the South African duo of Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt in third with Phesheya-Racing and the Dutch team of Nico and Frans Budel in fourth with Sec. Hayai, 179 miles behind Leggatt and Hutton-Squire, are furthest south, 130 miles due north of the Azores.

For Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis, the final miles of the nine-month circumnavigation should be plain sailing, although the busy shipping lanes and increase in commercial fishing traffic always pose an obstacle and the south-westerly wind may build, particularly for Financial Crisis on Tuesday night. Overall, for Colman and Cavanough, the following breeze will sustain until the finish line while Nannini and Frattaruolo should escape the strongest of the southerly breeze that is forecast to arrive west of Biscay on Wednesday, but both Phesheya-Racing and Sec. Hayai are heading for harder conditions as they approach Europe.  MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – As Tropical Storm Beryl prowls around the North Atlantic, the Global Ocean Race (GOR) fleet of double-handed Class40s has successfully sailed through the second gale in three days. Furthest south in fourth place, Nico and Frans Budel recorded gusts of up 35 knots on Sec. Hayai, while 260 miles north of the Azores, the South African duo of Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt in third with Phesheya-Racing report gusts of over 40 knots.

However, while the fleet leaders, Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough on Cessna Citation, were too far east to feel the strong winds, the big winner was Financial Crisis in second as Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo positioned themselves perfectly to lock into winds in front of the system as Beryl slewed northwards in their wake with Nannini’s three-year-old Akilaria Class40 averaging over 13 knots for a sustained ten hours, closing down the lead on Cessna Citation by 27 miles in 24 hours and trailing the leaders by 300 miles at 12:00 on Sunday.

As Beryl rolled eastwards, the Budels were 500 miles west of the Azroes and were first to feel the storm on Saturday evening as the centre of the low pressure passed to the north of Sec. Hayai. “We’re now in the depression with the wind building to over 30 knots and occasional gusts to 35 knots,” reported Frans Budel in a brief email. “So we’re sailing with two reefs in the main and staysail, but there’s still water flying everywhere,” he added as Sec. Hayai continually polled averages over ten knots. MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – With the four Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s chased across the mid-Atlantic by a deep low pressure system, speeds are remaining high despite drastically reduced sail. Meeting the strongest of the westerly wind on Wednesday afternoon, fleet leaders, Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough on Cessna Citation, continue to poll 11-12-knot averages, adding 64 miles to the separation with the chasing trio in the past 24 hours and leading by 400 miles at 15:00 GMT on Wednesday as the Kiwi-Australian duo leave Flores – the most westerly island in the Azores group – 150 miles off their starboard beam and climb north-east.

Dropping south overnight, but still northernmost boat in the pursuing pack, Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo in second with Financial Crisis began climbing back towards the stronger winds on Wednesday morning, hitting just under 11-knot averages as the system rolled east. Trailing Nannini and Frattaruolo by 196 miles on Wednesday afternoon and dropping 40 miles to Financial Crisis over the past day, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire in third on Phesheya-Racing crossed the bluQube Scoring Gate at 04:00 GMT on Wednesday with winds climbing to 40 knots and were averaging slightly under ten knots despite three reefs in the main.

Meanwhile, in fourth place, furthest south, the Dutch duo of Nico and Frans Budel on Sec. Hayai destroyed their A6 gennaker as the wind began building to 35 knots and have gained 30 miles on Phesheya-Racing since Tuesday. MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – At 02:00 GMT on Monday, Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough scorched through the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 5 bluQube Scoring Gate 420 miles south of Newfoundland netting maximum points for their Akilaria RC2 Class40, Cessna Citation.

As the GOR fleet leaders pick up the strong northerly breeze, speeds have been building with Colman and Cavanough polling averages of over 13 knots on Sunday night and hitting the scoring gate at over 16-knot averages as Cessna Citation finds her stride, sustaining the high speed and pulls away from the fleet building a 233-mile lead over Financial Crisis as the Kiwi-Australian duo pile eastwards.

In second place on the Italian-Slovak Class40, Financial Crisis, Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo climbed north before the wind went NNE, forcing them the south-east and they failed to find that extra gear until mid-morning on Monday, picking up speed averages to over ten knots, but have had to watch Cessna Citation add a massive 138 miles to their lead in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt in third with Phesheya-Racing were pushing average speeds over 12 knots before the South African duo lost a second spinnaker and the Dutch team of Nico and Frans Budel made averages of over 11 knots with Sec. Hayai until losing the best wind on Monday.

“Outside has been reminiscent of the Southern Ocean today,” reported Nick Leggatt from Phesheya-Racing on Monday morning and the grey, bleak surroundings matched his mood as an infected cut on his elbow and a destroyed spinnaker soured the atmosphere on the South African Class40. Leggatt has no recollection of how his elbow was injured: “We’ve been thrown about on this race so many times that cuts and bruises are regarded as the norm and are generally ignored,” he explains.  “And so it was with the small cut on my elbow, but after several days it began to swell and become quite painful.”  MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – After five days of racing from Charleston, the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s are out of the Gulf Stream and heading deeper into the North Atlantic led by Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough with Cessna Citation holding an eight mile lead over Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo on Financial Crisis in second place – an 11-mile gain in 24 hours by the Italian-Slovak pursuers. Trailing Financial Crisis by 91 miles at 15:00 GMT on Thursday, Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt in third with the South African Class40 Phesheya-Racing have increased their separation over Nico and Frans Budel on Sec. Hayai following a tack north by the Dutch duo which took the team into light airs.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Budels were polling the best speed averages in the fleet and the duo were totally focussed: “I don’t even know what day of the week it is as our life is now completely dominated on the position schedules,” said Frans Budel of the three-hourly updates. “It’s been a good day so far and we picked up some stable, ten-knot breeze, but where it has come from we have no idea as it doesn’t appear on the GRIB files and we are jumping from cloud to cloud to make the most of it,” he reported.

However, at 16:00 on Wednesday, the distrust of the downloaded weather files led to a tack: “Navigation has become a real gamble right now. Should we go right, left, or keep going straight?” wondered Frans Budel. “For now, we’re going to stick with the benefits of the Gulf Stream and keep in the current, so we’ve tacked north, but I don’t know yet how long we’ll stick with it.” By early Thursday morning after nine hours heading north, speeds on Sec. Hayai were sub-four knots and the Dutch duo tacked again, heading away from the windless wall at 37N. MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – With conflicting weather data and the likelihood of Tropical Storm Alberto sweeping across the fleet, the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s are relying on experience, instinct, skill and an element of luck as they head north-east away from Cape Hatteras and the coast of the USA.

Weather files indicate a windless corridor 140 miles wide along the coast and the four boats have been clipping the offshore edge of this zone with the 34-mile lead held by Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo decreasing rapidly as the Italian-Slovak duo split from the fleet heading east with Financial Crisis while Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough in second place with Cessna Citation maintained a more northerly course, polling the highest speeds in the fleet, trailing Financial Crisis by 13 miles at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, but separated by over 100 miles on the water as they scatter into the North Atlantic.

In third and fourth place, the South African and Dutch Class40s are separated by just eight miles and have been fighting against unreadable weather. On Sec. Hayai in fourth, the Budels have found the conditions frustrating: “Today was very calm and three times we were caught in a windless zone!” reported Frans Budel late on Monday night. “Very irritating if you are in a race, but we saw on the tracker that everyone was slowing down!”

On board Phesheya-Racing, Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt have given up relying on weather files: “By mid-afternoon the wind was down to under four knots from the ESE, and then it gradually filled in from the north leaving us beating upwind once again until around sunset when it died away and settled at just over four knots from the NNE for a time,” reported Leggatt on Monday night. “Right now the wind is around six knots from the WNW, which contrasts rather interestingly with the latest weather forecast which calls for ten knots from the south!”  MORE STORY

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – The first night at sea was wet and lumpy for the four Global Ocean Race (GOR) Class40s with a tough reintroduction to offshore racing following their stopover in Charleston, South Carolina, as the fleet sailed straight into headwinds as they cleared the coast of the USA.

Although the South African duo of Phillippa Hutton-Squire and Nick Leggatt crossed the start line first with Phesheya-Racing on Saturday morning, the Kiwi-Australian duo of Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough led the fleet out of Charleston Harbour with Class40 Cessna Citation, clearing the protection of the city’s offshore piers and hardening up into the north-easterly wind and long, rolling seas.

With headwinds forecast for the first 24-48 hours of the 3,600-mile Leg 5 to Les Sables d’Olonne, France, the option of heading into the Gulf Stream came with the certainty of steep seas as the strong, northerly-flowing current churns into the north-easterly wind.

With the addition of Tropical Storm Alberto lurking east of Charleston, three of the Class40s – Cessna Citation, Phesheya-Racing and the Dutch team of Nico and Frans Budel on Sec. Hayai – kept west of the current, tacking in towards the coast between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout while the fourth Class40, Financial Crisis of the Italian-Slovak duo, Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo, shot away from the coast, thundering into the Gulf Stream early GMT on Sunday morning.

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE – The Italian-Slovak duo of Marco Nannini and Sergio Frattaruolo crossed the Global Ocean Race (GOR) Leg 4 finish line at 04:22:59 GMT (00:22:59 local) with their Akilaria Class40 Financial Crisis securing second place just under 24 hours behind the Leg 4 winners, Conrad Colman and Scott Cavanough with Cessna Citation. Nannini and Frattaruolo took 29 days 10 hours 22 minutes and 50 seconds to complete the 5,700-mile course from Punta del Este, Uruguay, to Charleston, South Carolina.

Crossing the finish line at pace with flares blazing, Nannini and Frattaruolo were welcomed into the United States and congratulated by supporters, including the Honorary Consul of Italy, Sergio Fedelini, as they docked in the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina. “It’s always a pleasure to finish every leg of the Global Ocean Race and getting here in second place is fantastic,” said 33-year-old skipper, Marco Nannini, shortly after the dockside champagne celebrations.

The duo crossed the line chasing Cessna Citation hard and finished under one day behind Colman and Cavanough’s  latest generation Akilaria RC2, but Nannini’s goal was clearly defined before starting Leg 4 in Punta del Este: “We always had the aim to beat the other two first generation Akilaria Class40s in the fleet and we’re really happy to have succeeded,” he confirms. As Financial Crisis crossed the finish line, Sec. Hayai holding third place was 72 miles from Charleston with Phesheya-Racing in fourth a further eight miles from the finish.

For Nannini’s co-skipper, 43-year-old Sergio Frattaruolo, GOR Leg 4 was the first experience of offshore Class40 racing and his first sail with Marco Nannini: “It was a beautiful experience being on a Class40 with Marco who is a very good skipper and joining up with a round-the-world skipper has been a real honour,” says the former Mini Transat sailor from Bologna. “I really hope we can get second place again on the final leg of the race heading to France,” he adds.

For both sailors, Leg 4 was considered a ‘light’ leg: “This leg weather-wise was extremely easy,” says Nannini. “Apart from the first few days when we had some big winds, it has been really easy conditions,” he confirms. “However, this does make sure every boat pushes to the limit to stay ahead and makes for a very tactical race, so it doesn’t make it easier – it can sometimes make it tougher.”

As Nannini and Frattaruolo tucked into fresh food at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, the Dutch duo of Erik van Vuuren and Yvonne Beusker on Sec. Hayai had 49 miles remaining to the finish line at 08:00 GMT on Wednesday with Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire 16 miles behind the Dutch team with Phesheya-Racing.