The Race..Two crocks in the God pod..a Team Legato report

by Barry Pickthall on 14 Feb 2001 Two crocks in the God Pod as TEAM LEGATO reels back 135 miles overnight

03:00 TEAM LEGATO WARTA POLPHARMA
Position: 51 08'S. 127 15'E 45 17'S. 148 39'E
Speed at time of satellite poll: 12.2 knots 17.2 knots
Average speed for last 4 hours: 15.9 knots 9.0 knots
Course: 75 Degrees 76 Degrees
Distance covered over 24 hours: 381.8 miles 216.8 miles
Distance between the two: +884 miles

With Jason Owen nursing a bruised back and Tony Bullimore laid up in his
bunk after twisting his knee, TEAM LEGATO'S navigator has taken on the role
of Punkawallah to the master of the corned beef curry.

Tony reports:

'I am lying in my bunk in the central pod dictating this report to Jason
Owen on a day that has had its ups and downs. I jumped out of the cockpit
onto the nets and sprained my left ankle. It is a bit sore but will not stop
me from getting on with the job. On a brighter note, Mike Gettinger sorted
out a problem with the generator in the port hull which is now working fine.

We are on a pretty direct course to New Zealand with around fifteen knots of
westerly breeze that occasionally has some south in it. The boat speed is
nothing sensational - we are sailing very deep, trying to keep as much
downwind as possible achieving around 13-15 knots. We could easily point up
towards the wind and warm up to twenty knots but we would be going in the
wrong direction. It seems that we will be having these winds for the next
three days. We can only hope that we get a few knots more windspeed and its
direction veers much more round to the south.

But at least we are taking distance out of the Poles again. Over the past 24
hours, we have reeled back a welcome 135 miles on Warta Polpharma. We were
hoping to match race with them through Cook Strait but this is probably not
going to happen. Instead, the battle is more likely to take place in the
Pacific.

The two main watches are working very well. Paul Larson is working very hard
getting the best out of the boat in his watch and Freddie, who has had a
great deal more experience of multihull racing, is really getting it
together on his watch. Both Fred and Paul are proving to be very worthwhile
watch leaders. They are really getting on with the job. TEAM LEGATO is
proving a very easy boat to sail fast. The watches take care of most of the
work required on deck. Jason deals with the navigation and weather routers
and Rob Salvidge is responsible for the
galley, cooking meals, and filming etc. I do some helming, pull a few ropes
and spend time around the chart table discussing tactics with Jason. It is
all good stuff.

It is just so sad that I have seen so little wildlife. One wonders what has
happened to the oceans. Is man slowly destroying so much of the wildlife in
the seas or have we learnt our lesson and will now allow time for
replenishment

We now have got a few tins of corned beef together and I am going to cook a
cracking corned beef curry with boiled rice for supper. I have to be careful
how much hot pepper I put in because most of the crew like it mild - Only
three of us like it red hot. This is my contribution to the culinary
turnouts on TEAM LEGATO.

As I finish this report, the wind has picked up a bit and the Raytheon log
is showing 17/18 knots of boatspeed. Anything can happen in this race and we
are pushing hard to get the
best out of the boat. '


Leading positions at 03:00 GMT today
1. Club Med 6,020 miles to finish - Rounded Cape Horn 11.02.01
2. Innovation Explorer +939 miles - Cape Horn 12.02.01
3. Team Adventure 5,809miles - LEFT CAPE TOWN ON 26.01.01
4. Warta Polpharma 6,503miles
5. Team Legato 7,381 miles
6. PlayStation - RETIRED 14.01.01

For further details, pictures and daily audio feed from the boat, contact
Barry Pickthall at the Team Legato Race office
Mobile Phone: +44 (0) 7768 395719
Office +44 (0) 1243 555561 Fax: +44 (0)1243 555562
E.mail: ppl@mistral.co.uk Web site: www.teamlegato.com