Paul Cayard's Whitbread Log
Leg 6: São Sebastião to Ft. Lauderdale
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We had an opportunity to win this leg and did not. I am not happy about that. However, the big picture is getting increasingly bright as we beat both Swedish Match and Merit Cup,
who are the real contenders in this race.
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Day 16 - March 29, 1998
0854 GMT
25° 50'N, 079° 20'W
Place: 2nd; distance behind of 1st-place boat: 19.6 miles
Miles to Ft. Lauderdale: 56
From: Paul Cayard, Skipper, EF Language
Just off Great Isaac, 56 miles to go to Ft. Lauderdale, USA.
There are 6 Americans on this boat who are really looking forward
to coming home. We are debating weather we should eat our first
meal at Chuck's or the Chart House Sunday night.
It has been one fast race. Still, today a relentless pace . . . we
had one 100-mile sched and a couple of 90s. It has been fun the
last couple of days to go around the Caribbean and up the Bahamas.
These boats cover so much distance so quickly it still impresses
me.
It looks like a pretty straight-forward ride into Lauderdale. I
congratulate the crew of Silk Cut for their excellent race. They
really sailed well, positioning the boat inshore when it was good
off Brazil and out east all the way from the Equator to Eleuthera.
Their speed is not bad either. I would expect a few more good
races out of them now that them seem to have found their stride
and will no doubt be confident.
As for us, we had an opportunity to win this leg and did not. I
am not happy about that. However, the big picture is getting
increasingly bright as we beat both Swedish Match and Merit Cup,
who are the real contenders in this race. We now have a bigger
lead and 135 more points are off the table, 325 left to be had.
The next leg, to Baltimore, will be real close and probably tricky,
especially the last 120 miles up the Chesapeake Bay. Anything could
happen there.
One thing that happened in São Sebastião, that was a special
surprise to us, was that apart from winning leg 5 we also won the
Southern Ocean Trophy. This is awarded to the yacht with the best
cumulative score in the Southern Ocean, Legs 2-5. As first timers
in the Whitbread, the Southern Ocean was our biggest hurdle, and to
have come out of there rated the best of the fleet has special
meaning to us.
It was funny to see a couple of America's Cup hopefuls from New
York joining the Whitbread, as crew members, in Brazil. Obviously,
AmericaOne's association with Team EF and our success has gotten
to them. Now, they are trying to get in on what has become a big
deal in our sport. That puts a smile on my face.
This break I will be going back to work on my America's Cup
campaign, AmericaOne. The campaign out of San Francisco, to bring
the Cup back to the USA, is gathering significant momentum. I
hope to be able to tell you about that more specifically on the
next leg.
Until then, thanks for following us here on EFL. It is fun to
have an audience that is interested in what we are doing.
