Vendee Globe...Golding only 540 miles from finish

by Susan Preston Davis on 27 Feb 2001 540 MILES TO GO - AND COUNTING


An upbeat Mike Golding spoke to Vendée Globe Race Headquarters this morning
- listened to in the race village by a large crowd, including his family
and shore team. Also there to chat with him was Dominique Wavre who
finished on Thursday of last week. They congratulated each other on their
performances and after a humorous discussion about the merits - or
otherwise - of dried rice and pasta (during which Golding announced he’d
soon be speaking Italian if he ate much more pasta) Wavre took the
opportunity to remind Golding 'I can guarantee that as soon as you cross
the finish line you forget everything'.
'I’ll try to bear that in mind!' replied Golding.
'We have plenty of champagne waiting for you here, Mike' cut in Philippe
Jeantot
'Well we’ll need more than a case, Philippe' came the reply.

Golding reported that he is some 190 miles from Cape Finisterre currently
sailing above the course to give himself room to allow for the incoming
weather. He is on port tack flying the genoa and 1 reef in the mainsail.
Throughout the night he was still experiencing wind shifts in the region
of 40 to 50 degrees - very trying conditions, not allowing much time for
rest. 'It lulls you into a false sense of security, it’s an absolute
nightmare trying to sail in these conditions' he said.

Now with less than 540 miles to go Golding is still on schedule to beat
Marc Thiercelin’s time - he needs to cross the line before 15:48:49 on
Wednesday to be fourth fastest around the course. It promises to be a
nail-biting situation to the end.