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Whitbread Log: Leg 5, Auckland to São Sebastião ----------------------------- red rule ------------------------------
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  In wrapping up this Leg 5 using one word, I would say, "Redemption". We redemed our pride as good sailors, which we knew we were, but which had been brought into question in the conditions of the Southern Ocean.
Day 23 - Feb. 23, 1998

1602 GMT
25° 17'S, 045° 48'W

Miles to São Sebastião: 91

Place: 1st; distance ahead of 2nd-place boat: 506 miles

From: Paul Cayard, Skipper, EF Language

The last one for this leg. It looks like we are going to finish in about 12 hours at 0300 Tuesday the 24th Z. This will be the fourth time out of five that we finish on a Tuesday. I don't know what that means, but it is interesting to me.

Sailing on the Tube I think I have already stated it, but in wrapping up this Leg 5 using one word, I would say, "Redemption". We redeemed our pride as good sailors, which we knew we were, but which had been brought into question in the conditions of the Southern Ocean. Our lack of experience was a very understandable reason for our defeat on Leg 2, but still, one leg is enough. I am happy that we learned to deal with the "Whitbread" with just one spanking.

The last week has been a slow one. While we were certainly very fortunate and grateful for the winds we met after rounding Cape Horn, the "big stretch" became less amusing as time went on. We have used this opportunity to only use sails that will never be on board again and to go easy on the rig and the whole boat in general. The crew has started the recovery process sooner than otherwise, and our work lists are all prepared for the stopover.

For Leg 6 we will have 8 new sails. This is a lot at a time when most teams are running out of sail cards. Being on the front foot with the Code 1 and using 3DL throughout, our inventory has allowed us to get a long way around while using many less sail cards than our opponents. To refresh your memory, each yacht is limited to 38 sails for the entire race, four of which are mainsails. Being ahead in this department is just plain speed — new sails are faster than old ones.

All in all, here in São Sebastião, we are 3/4's of the way around the planet and a little more than 5/9ths of the way through the points. I feel pretty good about the position of EF Language. We have learned a lot as a crew, we have developed our boat well, and we have the lead. There is still a lot of racing to be done and anything can happen, in sailing especially, so I expect nothing less from EFL and her crew than what we have done so far.

Paul Cayard
Previous Report Loop to First Report

Leg 5 positions at 1800 GMT today:
      BoatPoints*Position
Overall
  1. EF Language (P. Cayard, skipper)
  2. BrunelSunergy
  3. Chessie Racing
  4. Swedish Match
  5. Merit Cup
  6. Toshiba
  7. Innovation Kvaerner
  8. Silk Cut
  9. EF Education
507
215
399
404
411
364
359
297
126 		1
8
4
3
2
5
6
7
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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