STAMM CLOSES IN ON NEWPORT
28th April 2003

It’s a sparkling day in Newport, Rhode Island as the town gears up for the arrival of the leading Class 1 boat in the Around Alone. At the moment it looks like Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group Armor lux is going to be the first boat across the line, just as he has done on each leg since the race started. At the last poll Bobst Group Armor lux had 464 miles to go and was sailing at 9 knots. If all goes well we can expect to see the dark blue hull streak across the finish line off Castle Rock sometime during the day on Wednesday.

Stamm has once again sailed a masterful leg. After taking the lead early on in the leg, Bernard has kept the boat sailing at full speed and has done a horizon job on his competition. It seems that this man has no clue how to sail slowly and even with overall victory well in hand, he is not able to tap back on the gas. His log from yesterday is another insight into the way this incredible sailor sails his boat. "I'm making good progress at 15 knots, without really pushing the boat," he wrote. "The wind is from the south-southeast at 24 knots. I've furled the spinnaker and so I am now sailing under gennaker. I could use the spinnaker again, but there's no point ripping something three days from the finish. Last night I grabbed 25 minutes sleep, awaking when the boat went right over on her side in 27 knots of breeze. So I furled the spinnaker right away. A front is coming through, I'll be going upwind soon. Gotta go now, time to gybe!"

This morning he sent another log. "I had a small passage of downwind sailing, which was fantastic. Right now I have headwinds, then the wind will shift to reaching conditions, then on the next shift return to upwind conditions, but we will finish this circumnavigation in strong downwind conditions I think. I haven’t checked the weather, but in any case it’s not going to be a smooth ride, and the temperature is going to drop once I leave the Gulf Stream and get into the Labrador current."

Stamm’s closest competitor is Simone Bianchetti on Tiscali who at the last poll was exactly 300 miles astern of Bobst Group Armor lux. Tiscali converged with Ocean Planet overnight, but as the boats got into similar wind conditions the Italian yacht opened up the lead again. At last poll Tiscali was 50 miles ahead of Ocean Planet. This has also been a remarkable leg for Bianchetti and his best showing of the race. The dismasting on Leg 2 was a lot to recover from and Simone found it difficult to hit his stride through the Southern latitudes. He had very little rest in Cape Town and was exhausted most of the way to Tauranga finally finishing fourth. His performance improved on Leg 4 where he finished third, but now if all goes well he will be the second boat into Newport. Perhaps if the race had one more leg would see Tiscali pull off a win.

While Tiscali and Ocean Planet duke it out for second, Thierry Dubois on Solidaires is storming up from behind. Sailing in better wind and at a faster pace than both Tiscali and Ocean Planet, Dubois looks likely to narrow the gap between the boats ever further as they front runners deal with transitional weather. The wind gods have not been kind to Thierry this leg, but he knows perhaps more than most that the race is not over until you cross the finish line and there is still a long way to sail. A large cold front that extends from Newfoundland to the Caribbean will sweep through the fleet later today bringing rain and a change in wind direction that is sure to shake things up and keep the fleet on their toes.

For now the latest ETA for Bobst Group Armor lux is midday on Wednesday local time. If you are in Newport tune in to 1540 WADK AM for the latest information.

Latest positions at 22:00 UTC 28th April 03

Class 1 : Boat/Lat/Long/Mileage/Btspd/Hdg/DTF

Bobst Group-Armor Lux 35 32.710 N, 66 33.320 W, 50.00 nm, 6.25 kt, 299 °T, 420.54 nm
Tiscali 32 00.260 N, 62 39.280 W, 65.77 nm, 8.22 kt, 353 °T, 704.40 nm
Ocean Planet 30 40.620 N, 63 42.150 W, 69.64 nm, 8.70 kt, 337 °T, 745.41 nm Solidaires 31 11.800 N, 59 31.070 W, 104.73 nm, 13.09 kt, 325 °T, 839.33 nm
Pindar 28 32.600 N, 57 27.700 W, 87.87 nm, 10.98 kt, 306 °T, 1030.50 nm

Class 2 : Boat/Lat/Long/Mileage/Btspd/Hdg/DTF

Tommy Hilfiger 30 32.120 N, 62 05.450 W, 72.10 nm, 9.01 kt, 340 °T, 794.14 nm
Everest Horizontal 27 36.440 N, 60 32.440 W, 81.39 nm, 10.17 kt, 325 °T, 986.66 nm
Spirit of yukoh 23 29.500 N, 55 14.350 W, 52.85 nm, 6.61 kt, 325 °T, 1347.29 nm
BTC Velocity 19 22.100 N, 53 35.650 W, 67.15 nm, 8.39 kt, 327 °T, 1606.03 nm

Leg 4: Spirit of Canada , @ 22:00 23 44 .100 S , 36 22 .420 W

--- Brian Hancock great.circle@verizon.net

Source: Around Alone Official Site