LONG-AWAITED TRADE WINDS HIT CAPE TO RIO FLEET
21 January 2003 - 15:30 pm (Local Time)

A sigh of relief swept through the fleet of the SAP Cape to Rio race when the long-awaited trade winds traditional to the race finally came through.
Frustrations were running high for the past three days as most of the fleet was experiencing virtually windless conditions and could only achieve small distances.
The superfast Swedes on board the trimaran Nicator clocked the best distance of the day with a speedy 333.8 miles averaging 13.91 knots.

Their closest rival in the chase to get to Rio first, the Brazilian catamaran Adrenalina
Pura averaged 9.69 knots to cover 232.5 miles.

The Gauteng crew on board Baleka is still revelling in their top spot in the handicap ratings and crew member Dave van der Spuy wrote: “We are overjoyed to learn that we lie first on handicap for the second day running. The hard work and sweat are paying off. Although the race is by no means over and anything can still happen, we are well set for the lead presently and intend to keep it!

We have had a flying past two days to surpass all other boats in our class. The wind has swung in our favour and is pushing us along the shortest course for Trinidade and ultimately Rio de Janeiro.”

Gawie Fagan on board Suidoos 2 did his best distance of the race since leaving Cape Town more than a fortnight ago. The 9-metre Royal Cape One Design covered 188 miles during the past 24 hours and is clinging onto her
second handicap position. According to avid supporter Dave Smith, they are delighted to see the good distance as they were getting very concerned for the crew’s spirit. “On such a small boat, it becomes extremely frustrating when you are not going anywhere and morale becomes low. It’s great that
they moving well again.”

Investec and Diel hung onto their third and fourth positions respectively with mono-hull line honours contender Morning Glory in fifth position. Dr Hasso Plattner and his crew also came into better winds and covered 239 miles during the last reporting period.

Auto Atlantic Thunderchild and the communications vessel Dalys Insurance, are still playing cat-and-mouse and have been joined by the Australian maxi Helsal II. The three yachts are bunched together and have all been covering distances over 180 miles.

Solo yachtsman John Martin on board the yacht MTU Fascination of Power reported good winds on Tuesday morning. After being stuck in a hull for close to three days, Martin was delighted with their progress. “At last we are flying. Since 18h00 last night we got the wind and we have been cooking since then. We’re currently surfing at 12 knots and averaging 9 knots and are now heading directly for the Island,” said Martin, who yesterday compared the mid-Atlantic to a parking lot.

On board the yacht inspia!2041 skipper Derek Shuttleworth reported some excitement when the spinnaker was wrapped around the forestay. According to Coca-Cola inspianeer Linda Shannon, it turned into an exhausting exercise and they had to hoist a crew member to untangle it. "Thinking back on the
incident what strikes me is that everybody just pitched in and got on with the job at hand. We all knew that we were in a terrible predicament if we did not get the Spinnaker down (and in one piece as it is the only one we have) so we focused solely on that job. I think that the reason for this was because the Skipper was so calm about it. You did not get the idea from him that he was angry (although I am sure he was), or frustrated with us when we did not get things right the first time. He was patient and focused, and in the end we only lost about an hour."