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Tiscali finishes Around Alone leg
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Italian skipper Simone Bianchetti has arrived in Cape Town with just three days to prepare for leg three of the Around Alone race to New Zealand. Bianchetti was the last of the 12 solo sailors to complete the second leg after his Open 60 monohull Tiscali was dismasted in the Bay of Biscay five days after leaving Torbay, Britain. Under the race rules, he had to sail the remainder of the leg to Cape Town to be eligible to continue racing. Determined to continue, Bianchetti sailed his crippled yacht with a jury rig to northern Spain. He managed to rejoin the race 10 days later with a spare mast loaned from race leader Bernard Stamm, who has won legs one and two. 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 Emma Richards -- the only female competitor in the race. His eventual finishing time of 57 days was 28 days longer than leg winner Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm. Fortunately for Bianchetti, the race organisers pushed the scheduled restart back by three weeks because of a storm that kept the whole class 2 fleet in port for a week. 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 18 metres (40 to 60 feet.) The race stopovers include Tauranga, New Zealand and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, before returning to Newport in April 2003. The 7,125-nautical-mile third leg from Cape Town to Tauranga, New Zealand, which starts on Sunday, is likely to be one of the most dangerous of the race. The Southern Ocean has a fearsome reputation. Two Around Alone sailors have perished in the cold waters, and for the lucky ones, there have been some heroic rescues in previous races. The solo voyage will last approximately 35 days. Around Alone Leg 2 Torbay, UK to Cape Town, South Africa: Class 1 Open 60 1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux: Bernard Stamm (Swiss) 29 days, 22 hours 59 minutes 2 Solidaires: Thierry Dubois (France) 30 days, 8 hours, 42 minutes 3 Pindar: Emma Richards (UK) 30 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes 4 Hexagon: Graham Dalton (New Zealand) 31 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes 5 Ocean Planet Bruce Schwab (USA) 44 days, 16 hours, 15 minutes 6 Tiscali Simone Bianchetti (Italy) 57 days, 4 hours, 58 minutes Leg 2 Class II 1 Tommy Hilfiger/Freedom America 50ft Brad Van Liew (USA) 44 days, 2 hours, 48 minutes 2 Everest Horizontal 50ft Tim Kent (USA) 48 days, 3 hours, 37 minutes 3 Spirit of Canada Derek Hatfield 40ft (Canada) 49 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes 4 Spirit of Yukoh 40ft Kojiro Shiraishi (Japan) 50 days, 9 hours, 5 minutes 5 BTC Velocity 40ft Alan Paris (Bermuda) 54 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes 6 Bayer Ascensia 50ft John Dennis (Canada) 55 days, 0 hours, 22 minutes Class I points after two legs 1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux: Bernard Stamm (Swiss) 20 points 2 Solidaires: Thierry Dubois (France) 18 points 3 Pindar: Emma Richards (UK) 15 points 4 Hexagon: Graham Dalton (New Zealand) 11 points 5 Ocean Planet Bruce Schwab (USA) 11 points 6 Tiscali Simone Bianchetti (Italy) 11 points Class II points after two legs 1 Tommy Hilfiger/Freedom America 50ft Brad Van Liew (USA) 20 points 2 Everest Horizontal 50ft Tim Kent (USA) 17 points 3 Spirit of Canada Derek Hatfield 40ft (Canada) 17 points 4 Spirit of Yukoh 40ft Kojiro Shiraishi (Japan) 13 points 5 Bayer Ascensia 50ft John Dennis (Canada) 12 points 6 BTC Velocity 40ft Alan Paris (Bermuda) 11 points
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