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Dismasted Tiscali heads for port
SOUTHAMPTON, England -- Around Alone sailor Italian Simone Bianchetti is struggling to reach port after dismasting early on Sunday morning. Bianchetti was trailing the six-boat Class 1 fleet by over 600 miles on leg two of the race from England to Cape Town, South Africa. Bianchetti said that he was inside the boat when the mast broke in three places and crashed onto the deck during rapidly deteriorating weather. Bianchetti said he was not hurt in the accident. He was heading to La Coruna in northern Spain, 90 miles from where the accident happened. He was not due in port before midday on Monday.
Race chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said organisers and fellow competitors were sorry to hear of the dismasting. "Simone is a tough and experienced sailor and this will be a great frustration to him. We hope he can clear the mess of mast and rigging from the boat and be able to make a safe port quickly." As the Around Alone race is based on a points system for each leg and not total elapsed time, Bianchetti will still be able to make up for points lost in leg two during the remaining legs. Under the race rules, Bianchetti must sail Tiscali to Cape Town to be eligible to continue the race. The winner of the second leg is expected in Cape Town about November 8. The 28,775-mile five-leg single-handed Around Alone race is held every four years. There are two classes of monohulls from 12m to 18m (40 to 60ft). The race has stopovers in England, Cape Town, Tauranga, New Zealand and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, before returning to Newport, U.S. in April 2003. Class 2 skippers and Bruce Schwab in Class 1 are waiting out the storm in Bayona and La Coruna. Meanwhile, Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group/Armor Lux, Emma Richards on Pindar, and Thierry Dubois on Solidaires are locked in a three-way battle in strong winds. "I am getting to the end of this, but it is one incredible storm -- I am sailing in 35 knots of breeze but still getting squalls of 50 knots screaming through," Stamm said. Richards was in second place and increasing the distance between herself and Dubois, but was still recovering from the past two days. "I have not been out of my drysuit and harness since Thursday, except of course to use the loo but even then you need to pick your moment in case you need to run on deck to ease something or do a major course alteration," she said. Dubois described the storm as "totally unbearable." " It is moving slowly from the west, and is completely barring the route, so you can't go over it nor through it as it is so big. The only way through is to tackle it head on and tough it through the Southerly gale. New Zealander Graham Dalton on Hexagon was making the slowest progress.
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