Oryx Quest 2005 update

Daedalus rounds Los Lobos

Tony Bullimore and his crew on Daedalus wobbled around Los Lobos island late Saturday afternoon after the wind died making for a painfully slow approach to the required turning mark. On hand to greet the boat was Juan Pablo Figoli and Captain Pablo Temesio Balestra of the rescue launch ROU 70 who were there to take video footage and CD’s burned with the digital images shot since the start. “It was really nice to see people again after so long,” Tony said in a satellite phone call. “The weather was perfect for a handover as we were drifting slowly, much as we had been doing all day.” The wind died before daybreak and Daedalus sailed slowly toward the island, the crew enjoying the sunshine and relative calm after a few weeks of thunderous sailing through the Southern Ocean. With the handover complete and full sails hoisted, Tony and his team headed out into the Atlantic, another major milestone behind them, another ocean to cross ahead of them before they will finally be able to turn north and head to the finish in Qatar. At the 07:00 GMT poll on Sunday morning Daedalus was over a hundred miles from Los Lobos sailing at 16 knots.

At the same 07:00 GMT poll Doha 2006 was sliding past the Prince Edward Islands a hundred miles to the north. The islands are officially part of the Cape Province in South Africa and are steep sided with the peaks on Marion Island covered with snow year round. It’s another fascinating piece of the planet that nonstop round-the-world sailors pass as they girdle the globe. While the islands are home to plenty of wildlife and birds, the ocean to the north seems relatively barren as Brian Thompson described in his daily log. “There are no albatross flying today,” he wrote. “They must have left to go somewhere windier or are just sitting on the surface, out of sight. We did, however, see the blow of a whale earlier but could not see the whale itself. It's actually the first big whale we have sighted since the start, although we have seen pilot whales and dolphins in the Indian Ocean on the way south.” Doha 2006 is making steady progress as they reach towards the center of the high pressure that dominates their weather pattern. The sun is shining through the thick fog as the boat romps along at 18 knots. In the next 24 hours they will have to alter course to the north to avoid running into the light winds in the High, but for now it’s easy sailing as the big Qatari catamaran eats up the miles on their way back to Doha.

To read the rest of Brian Thompson’s log go to Skipper Logs at www.oryxquest.com

To read all the crew logs from Doha 2006 go to www.maxicatdoha.com

To read the logs from Daedalus go to www.teambullimore.com