Header image: Henri Lloyd in St Katharine Docks before the race start

Leg 3, Race 4, Cape Town to Albany, Australia, across the Southern Ocean

At the start of leg 3, Henri Lloyd had 32 points and they were in the lead overall.

Leg 3 – Race 4 – Cape Town to Albany, Australia

Race 4 Viewer

Race 4 Viewer

Crossing the Southern Ocean, usually defined as further than 40 degrees latitude south, is a journey not undertaken by the majority of sailors and as a result is the dream of many. Not Anita’s!

I said before that the area is renowned for its storms. It can also be a very beautiful, if desolate and remote, place.

The first storm that the fleet experienced resulted in two serious injuries. In one incident, Derry was knocked down by a huge wave, the crew were thrown all over the place and one of the crew members had a suspected broken arm. In the other incident, a wave breaking over the deck washed a crew member onto a metal cleat. The cleat pierced his leg, luckily missing any bone. Both yachts had to divert to Port Elizabeth so that the casualties could get medical treatment. Once the casualties were dropped off, both yachts resumed racing.

In subsequent storms there were no such injuries. Henri Lloyd only experienced one more storm, many of the fleet another two.

The maximum wind speed experienced by Henri Lloyd in this leg was over 70 knots.

Day 14 of this race was when the third storm hit most of the boats. It was travelling from west to east so hit those boats further behind first. Some of these boats reported wind speeds of over 100 knots and so were using the smaller storm sails or even no sails at all. By the time the storm reached those boats further east, including Henri Lloyd, it had mostly blown itself out.

Luckily, Henri Lloyd managed to complete this race with only minor injuries such as bruising and no equipment damage.

This time all of the boats appeared to go through the scoring gate with Henri Lloyd in second place gaining two extra points. The Ocean Sprint was won by PSP Logistics, who were also the first to cover more than 300 miles in 24 hours. However Henri Lloyd finished race 4 in second place, 28 minutes behind the race winner Great Britain, with 11 points giving them 13 points for this race and an overall total of 45 points and still in first place overall.

Summary

Without the extra points available from the scoring gates and the ocean sprints, Henri Lloyd would be in second place behind GREAT Britain who has won all of their 41 points on race finish alone (no extra points having been gained). This is a great achievement but from Henri Lloyd’s perspective – thank goodness for extra points!!


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  1. Anna on 1 January 2014 at 11:49

    Wow! It sounds dangerous and exhilarating. I hope the injured sailors are recovering well.
    Anita you’ll be going soon. Today? 1 Jan 2014? Happy New Year and all the best.



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