| Some might argue firstly that Bernard Stamm's victory on leg one of the Velux 5 Oceans occurred just two nights into his 42 day 22 hour and 18 minute passage from Bilbao to Fremantle or secondly that his overall result in the Velux 5 Oceans is now assured. However this is a singlehanded round the world race, through some of the toughest waters on the planet on the longest course of any solo race. As this leg has demonstrated anything can happen in solo round the world racing and there remain all manner of possibilities.
For example how many of us would have predicted that on this leg Mike Golding and Alex Thomson would both break their boats and be out of the race? With this in mind possible outcomes of the Velux 5 Oceans including no finishers all, or that Stamm's boat experiences a severe breakage opening up the competition once again. All we can say with any certainty at this stage is that Stamm's position is good , with what looks set to be an advantage of around four days on second placed Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of Yukohat the end of the first leg - (the Velux 5 Oceans is scored on cumulative elapsed time remember). ...more |
