Sir Robin returns to Fremantle after autopilot failure
by Sophy Williams 15 Jan 2007 06:11 GMT
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston at the start of Leg 2 of the Velux 5 Oceans Race © OnEdition
Less than 24 hours into the second leg of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) has turned his Open 60 SAGA INSURANCE back to Fremantle. After tussling yesterday with defending champion and race leader Bernard Stamm (SUI) to be first across the start line at 15:00
local time in Western Australia (06:00 GMT), Sir Robin headed west with the fleet to line up a passage past Cape Leewin to the south. However, during the night both the autopilot systems on SAGA INSURANCE failed and refused to re-start.
After many hours assessing the problem onboard throughout the night, Sir
Robin took the difficult decision to head back to Fremantle and meet his
shore team back on land. Sir Robin will therefore have to comply with
the minimum 48 hour time penalty for receiving outside assistance,
putting him well behind the fleet from the off. He was forced to helm
SAGA INSURANCE throughout the night and is therefore completely
exhausted.
On arriving back at the start, Sir Robin commented, "It is in my nature
to be upbeat about these things. Better to have this problem now rather
than a week's time. We had specialists onboard this morning who
identified the problem. It is not something I would have been able to
do alone, so it was the right call coming back. The wiring to the
autopilots wasn't big enough to take the power. It was like pushing lots
of water through a tiny pipe. I'd had a good start and was getting the
storm jib out when SAGA INSURANCE involuntarily tacked. Not knowing the
reason at that stage, I carried on and it happened again. Both pilots
switched off. I sat down and had a drink to think it through and came
to the conclusion that I'd kill myself if I carried into the Southern
Ocean without sorting it out properly. Now that we have identified the
problem it explains a lot of the issues we had in the last leg, so
finally we know. It actually makes me feel a lot more confident. I'm
not worried about starting after the others. We all have a long way to
go, and we just have to get on with it. Or at least I will after
everything has been fixed and I've had some serious sleep!"
Knox-Johnston was met by his shore team and technical staff after
rounding Rottnest Island, ten miles off Fremantle. He officially
suspended racing at 08:00 local time (23:00 GMT) He will restart the
race at 0800 Wednesday 17th at the same place.