Oryx Quest - Los Lobos Rendezvous

Late Wednesday afternoon, while the crew on Cheyenne were dealing with the wreckage that was once their mast, Doha 2006 rounded the turning mark of Los Lobos Island. They are now heading south, skirting the edge of the South Atlantic High.

At the 12:00 GMT poll on Thursday morning the Qatari catamaran was sailing at 19 knots on a course of 142 degrees. Another major milestone has been checked off as they set their sights on the next mark of the course; the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa.

Los Lobos island was added as a mark of the course to bring the boats up out of the Southern Ocean. In the early days of planning the Oryx Quest 2005 a decision was made to add the turning mark. The waters east of Cape Horn are treacherous, especially this time of year. It’s late summer in the Southern Hemisphere and the ice pack in Antarctica is crumbling fast ahead of another long, cold winter. The chunks of ice that break off are swept north in a current that transports them directly into the path of boats sailing from the Horn to South Africa. The relatively warm air blows over the freezing, ice laden water, and a thick fog pervades the area making it especially dangerous for a maxi-catamaran sailing at full speed. Prudence, and a desire to make the course a bit more interesting, made the decision to add the turning mark an easy one.

The other reason for the mark was to allow the crews to make a film dump as they neared land. Since leaving Qatar the crews have been shooting reams of video footage, some of which has been compressed and sent back via satellite. The rest has been stored on board waiting for the Los Lobos drop off. A few days ago, Raffaella Motta, Shore Manager for Doha 2006, and Will Ingham, TV man extraordinaire from APP Broadcast, were dispatched to Uruguay to rendezvous with the boat. Raffaella, who is fluent in Spanish, was to make arrangements, and Will planned to film the boat as it arrived at the island. Raffaella explains what happened. “It was quite rough because it had been blowing 35 knots for the last two days and the sea state was really bad,” she said. “By the time we got to the island the seas had calmed down a bit. The boat arrived, gybing downwind, at about 15:30 local time. It was really spectacular to suddenly see it and the crew all looked great. They were so happy. I think that it was the first time they had had warm weather for a long time and they were all smiling.” Los Lobos island is named for the two hundred thousand sea lions that call the small island home and Will Ingham managed to get some amazing footage of the boat with the local wildlife in the foreground. Raffaella, Will and some of the Uruguay Coastguard sailors boarded a small RIB and pulled alongside the massive catamaran. They had hoped to conduct some interviews with the crew, however it was too rough for filming. They did, however manage to safely retrieve the tapes before returning to the large coastguard cutter. “It was really an amazing thing to meet them on this tiny point on the globe,” Raffaella continued, “but suddenly they were away. They put the sails up, sheeted them on and took off over the horizon.” Doha 2006 is approximately 3325 miles from the Cape of Good Hope.

Tony Bullimore and his crew on Daedalus are making good progress through the Southern Ocean as they dive ever deeper south. At the 12:00 GMT poll on Thursday the boat was sailing at 58 degrees south on a heading that would take them even deeper into dangerous waters. Daedalus is currently 1,600 miles from the infamous turning mark sailing at 10 knots. Meanwhile Cheyenne is currently under tow by the Argentinean Navy War Ship SUBOFICIAL CASTILLO. They are heading to Comodoro Rivadavia, a safe harbour on the east coast of Argentina. They were making 5 knots and skipper David Scully estimates an ETA of 00:00 GMT on 11th. Tracy Edwards, the CEO of Quest International, made a brief comment when she heard about the dismasting. “I can’t believe this has happened,” she said. “We are so disappointed for David and his crew who have put so much effort into this race and were making such a concerted push to catch the leader. The important thing, however, is that no one is hurt and everyone in good spirits.” The she added, “my thoughts are with them.” The crew have been in touch with Steve Fossett, the owner of the boat, and Fossett is making the arrangements with the Argentinean Navy. Scully lived in the South American country for almost 10 years and is fluent in Spanish. He said he would especially like to thank LTCDR Fernado Maglione for his help and assistance. We all would like to thank Senor Maglione for his help and wish Dave and his team a safe trip to land.

--- Brian Hancock brian.hancock@qisel.com