Conrad Colman duels for pole position in the second leg of the Global Ocean Race

Posted on 07/12/2011

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Conrad Colman duels for pole position in the second leg of the Global Ocean Race

Close competition has always been a basis of the Class40 Association, but after one week and over 1,300 miles of racing through the Indian Ocean, the five, double-handed, Class40s in the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) are taking this characteristic to extremes. The Franco-British duo of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron took the lead on Monday night with their Pogo40S2 Class40, Campagne de France, before Gill Race Team’s Conrad Colman and Sam Goodchild regained pole position at 05:00 GMT on Tuesday with the New Zealand-British team's Akilaria RC2, Cessna Citation, but relinquished the lead to Mabire and Merron just four hours later.

West of the leading pack by 200 miles, the two first generation Akilaria's - Phesheya-Racing of South Africans, Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire, and Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon's Financial Crisis are racing through the high latitudes within sight of each other at 41 degrees South. Meanwhile, the New Zealand father-and-son team of Ross and Campbell Field in third on BSL continue to stalk the leaders, chiselling away at the distance deficit and shadowing Campagne de France and Cessna Citation.

At 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, Campagne de France was leading the fleet by a margin of four miles over Cessna Citation.

Current weather models suggest the breeze may go forward and slightly east of north over the next 24 hours as the fleet continue towards the eastern extremity of the ice limit, 190 miles ahead of the leaders.

GOR Leg 2 leaderboard at 15:00 GMT 06/12/2011:
1. Campagne de France: DTF 5596 10.8kts
2. Cessna Citation: DTL 3.8 9.9kts
3. BSL: DTL 23 9.6kts
4. Financial Crisis: DTL 207 10.3kts
5. Phesheya-Racing: DTL 211 10.1kts