Sailing Magazine
pic by Alec Smith
by Richard Crockett
The two cats have finished with ‘Norhi’ taking 18 days and 20 hours, and ‘Aventurerio 4′ taking 20 days and 1 hour.
Just 146nm from the finish is ‘Atalanta’ with ‘Ray of Light’ and ‘Audaz II’ having 170nm and 176nm respectively to go.
The dice between these three could go either way, with ‘Atalanta’ having the edge should the wind go light – and there is every chance of this happening as the Rio finish is always one of heartbreak as in the Cabo Frio area the wind is always notoriously light, frustrating those wanting to finish. ‘Atalanta’ is a lightweight boat, so she will have an edge in light conditions, while the others are all pretty heavy in comparison, and slower in light conditions.
The honour of being first monohull is rather a moral victory which counts for little as the real race winner is the yacht which wins on handicap. That honour at the moment lies with ‘Atalanta’ who leads the monohull handicap race convincingly.
Way back in the 1973 race, ‘Stormy’, sailed by Kees Bruynzeel, took both line and handicap honours.
Will history repeat itself 50 years later?
It very well could as the smallest boat in the race, which is also being sailed singlehanded, currently holds those honours, and may well also hold them to the finish line. It’s possible, with Adrian Kuttel and ‘Atalanta’ being well poised to achieve that.
The next 24 hours will be exciting, so keep a weather eye on the YB Tracker to see who triumphs in to Rio.
From days of yore, exactly 50 years ago today in 1973, ‘Stormy’ had 1913nm to go to finish, and was just 30nm ahead of ‘Jakaranda’. ‘Stormy’ ultimately took line and handicap honours.
READ MORE HERE: 1973 01 23 – Rio 1973 – OCR –
