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Solo sailors find their rhythm

Around Alone sailors took part in the Sail for America to mark September 11

NEW YORK -- After three nights the 13 solo competitors attempting to sail around the globe will have settled into a daily pattern they hope will see them through at least another 200.

They are on the first leg of the Around Alone event -- a seven-month race taking them from New York, in the U.S., to Torbay, in the UK.

As expected Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm in Bobst Group Amor Lux has taken the lead in the Open 60 class, chased by Thierry Dubois in Solidaires and Graham Dalton in Hexagon.

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In Class II American Brad van Liew is leading in the Open 50 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America.

The first leg started on Sunday from a line off Ground Zero on Manhattan Island and takes the sailors 2,885 nautical miles across the Atlantic to Torquay, England.

Subsequent stopovers on the 28,775-mile five-leg race are Cape Town, South Africa, Tauranga, New Zealand and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, before returning to Newport, Rhode Island in April 2003.

The Around Alone brings together a unique mixture of fully sponsored professional skippers and under-funded amateurs in a fleet of custom built monohulls from 13m to 18.28m (40 to 60ft).

Based on previous races, one third of the entries are likely to fail to complete.

All are following in the wake of Canadian sailor Joshua Slocum who is recognised for the first solo circumnavigation in 1885 in his 12m (37ft) Spray. He took three years, including stops, to complete.

The Around Alone is considered the poor relation to the high-profile Vendee Globe which attracts the top professionals who prefer the shorter non-stop version.

There are also more glamorous non-stop events for unlimited multihulls that can circle the planet in a little over 60 days, such as the Jules Verne and The Race.

Skippers like Michel Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur, first and second in the 2000/1 Vendee, have chosen the single-handed Route du Rhum this autumn from St Malo to Guadeloupe in preference to the Around Alone to further their careers and gain exposure for their sponsors.

The Around Alone race was purchased by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Clipper Ventures in 2001, but in the current economic climate Clipper Ventures has failed to attract a major sponsor.

The main changes have been in the stopover ports with the first ever stop in the UK in Torquay, missing out Australia for the first time and a return to Newport, Rhode Island for the finish.

Around Alone race schedule

Leg 1 (Newport to Torbay, UK 2,885 nautical miles) September 15

Leg 2 (Torbay to Cape Town 6,880nm) October 13

Leg 3 (Cape Town to New Zealand 7,125nm) December 1

Leg 4 (New Zealand to Salvador, Brazil 7,850nm) January 26

Leg 5 (Salvador to Newport 4,015nm) March 23

The first boats are expected to finish in Newport, Rhode Island around

April 14 2003

Around Alone competitors

Class 1 Open 60

Bobst Group-Armor Lux Bernard Stamm (Switzerland)

Garnier Patrick de Radigues (Belgium)

Hexagon Graham Dalton (New Zealand)

Ocean Planet Bruce Schwab (USA)

Pindar Emma Richards (UK)

Solidaires Thierry Dubois (France)

Tiscali Simone Bianchetti (Italy)

Class II

Bayer Ascensia 50ft John Dennis (Canada)

BTC Velocity 40ft Alan Paris (Bermuda)

Everest Horizontal 50ft Tim Kent (USA)

Spirit of Canada Derek Hatfield 40ft (Canada)

Spirit of Yukoh 40ft Kojiro Shiraishi (Japan)

Tommy Hilfiger/Freedom America 50ft Brad Van Liew (USA)