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Stamm wins Around Alone second leg
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm has won the second leg of the Around Alone race into Cape Town. Stamm, in Bobst Group/Amor Lux, took 29 days, 21 hours, 59 minutes, 45 seconds to sail from Torbay, Britain to Cape Town. He won the first leg from Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. into Torbay, more than 11 hours ahead of the rest of the competitors. The fight for second place has kept Dubois occupied the whole of the 6,880 mile leg, changing position several times with the only female skipper in the race, Briton Emma Richards sailing Pindar. Dubois finally managed to build up a lead of 60 miles over Richards in the closing stages of the leg. Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti in Tiscali is bringing up the rear of Class 1 after being dismasted at the start of the leg. Under the race rules, Bianchetti has to sail Tiscali to Cape Town to be eligible to continue racing. Tiscali finally set off from Spain on Sunday with a replacement mast borrowed from Stamm. In a co-operative effort that demonstrated the spirit of the Around Alone, the spare mast from Stamm was transported to Spain on a trawler owned by Pindar, the sponsor of Richards. Bianchetti is now over 6,000 miles from the finish and is racing against the clock to reach Cape Town in time for the restart on December 14. The 28,775-mile five-leg single-handed Around Alone race is held every four years. There are two classes of monohulls from 12 to 18m (40 to 60ft). The race stopovers include Tauranga, New Zealand and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, before returning to Newport in April 2003. After bad weather delayed the Torbay start for one day and then a storm off the coast of Spain sent all the Class 2 competitors scurrying for shelter, keeping them in port for five days, the race organisers Clipper Ventures have been forced to reschedule the start times of the remaining legs. The start time of the third leg from Cape Town to Tauranga has been changed twice as it became clear that the stragglers in Class 2 would not arrive with sufficient time to prepare for the next leg. The Cape Town start is now scheduled for December 14. The remaining two legs have been put back one week with the New Zealand to Brazil start on February 2 and the final leg starting on March 30. The six Class 2 competitors, who all sought shelter in Spain, have only just crossed the Equator with American Brad van Liew sailing Tommy Hilfiger leading by 844 miles with just under 3,000 miles left to sail.
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