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Whitbread Log: Leg 5, Auckland to São Sebastião----------------------------- red rule ------------------------------
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EF Language EF Language in Leg 4
Day 1 - Feb. 1, 1998

0648 GMT
36° 35'S, 174° 60'E

Miles to São Sebastião: 6,646

Place: 8th; distance behind 1st-place boat: 5.3 miles

From: Paul Cayard, skipper EF Language

The start was quite spectacular. It was a broad-reaching start with the inshore side favored for wind and the offshore side favored for current. In the end, inshore won out and Merit got the best of it, with Swedish Match close behind. We were in the middle of the line and got a middle result.

The southwesterly wind soon died and the fleet drifted for some time. Kvaerner and ourselves made a move to the outside after the first turning mark and held the 1-2 positions to the final turning mark, with Silk Cut third.

We held the southeasterly wind for about one hour, then it died. It was a painful afternoon as we witnessed a great battle between the sea breeze and the southwesterly gradient. We went absolutely nowhere for about 2 hours.

The sea breeze has now gone away as it is 1945 local time. We are sailing along at 9.5 knots with spinnaker. We are approaching Cape Colville, which will probably kill the wind again in about one hour. So, more fun for us tonight in the dark.

I get very nervous looking at how much stuff we have on the boat right now. I have to remind myself that everyone else has the same amount of stuff and that we will need it in about four days.

So, it was a frustrating and slow afternoon that gave us a good dose of dehydration to send us on our way. I guess Auckland has the perfect average wind speed: It was 38 the day we got here and 0 most of today, so that averages out to 19 knots — perfect.

Paul Cayard
Previous Report

Leg 5 positions at 0600 GMT today:
      BoatPoints*Position
Overall
  1. Chessie Racing
  2. Merit Cup
  3. Swedish Match
  4. EF Education
  5. Toshiba
  6. Silk Cut
  7. Innovation Kvaerner
  8. EF Language (P. Cayard, skipper)
  9. BrunelSunergy
429
452
418
191
377
323
359
411
122 		2
1
3
8
5
7
6
4
9
* Aggregate points total, including points scored for the first, second, third and fourth legs and points for the fifth leg according to current positions.

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