Team Mowgli sets sail for Leg two

With a heavy cloud shrouding Table Mountain the six boats participating in the Portimão Global Ocean Race set off on their 7,900 nautical mile voyage to Wellington, New Zealand. Executive Deputy Mayor, Cllr Grant Haskin fired the start gun and seconds later Michel Kleinjans aboard Roaring Forty crossed the line, sails sheeted in tight and wide grin plastered on his face. Moments later the German team of Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme on Beluga Racer crossed followed closely by Nico Budel aboard Hayai. The wind, a steady northerly, made for an upwind beat to the first obligatory mark, Fairway buoy No 2 off Sea Point.

The fleet immediately split tacks with Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson aboard Team Mowgli heading offshore toward Robben Island, and Kleinjans on Roaring Forty choosing instead to head for land hoping to pick up a nice lift off the wind bending around Signal Hill. The rest of the fleet chose a middle ground with Beluga Racer and Desafio Cabo de Hornos already locked in a neck and neck match race, the German yacht slightly ahead of the Chilean team of Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz.

A large spectator fleet was on hand to watch the boats tussle their way out of Table Bay. The entire racing fleet for the Crock’s Regatta, a local regatta also taking place this weekend, was on hand to give the Portimão racers a rousing send-off with local sailors Peter and Lenjohn van der Wel surrounded by well-wishers waving and cheering. Earlier in the day it was an emotional scene at the Royal Cape Yacht Club as hundreds of cheering people gave each yacht a fitting send-off. The fog slowly lifted and by the time all the boats were away from the dock there were peeks of blue sky forcing their way between dark rain clouds.

Forty minutes into the leg it was clear that Michel Kleinjans was once again going to show the rest of the fleet how to sail. He sailed right up to the land, tacked over in front of the new stadium being built for the 2010 soccer World Cup, and picked up a massive lift. As the offshore yachts converged off Sea Point Kleinjans was clearly in the lead and at the first poll at 13:20 UTC he was .2 of a mile ahead of the second place Beluga Racer. Two hours into the race less than half a mile separated Kleinjans from the back-markers Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Hayai.

As the boats round Sea Point and sail past Cape Town’s famous Clifton Beach, the skippers will be able to ease sheets and enjoy some fast sailing. The forecast for the next 24 hours looks good as the wind will slowly back first into the west then into the southwest giving them all a clean getaway from land. 

Team Mowgli arrive in Cape Town
Jeremy Salvesen reflects on leg one

After nearly a year of dreaming, planning and training we are finally at the start day in Portimão surrounded by friends and family. Final preparations are underway, the electrician is still on board but we are nearly ready for the off. Saying goodbye on the dock is harder than either of could ever have imagined and tears flow freely. We have organised a junk to take everyone to the start line but we are joined on board by Jeremy's three boys until the last minute when they will be taken off by RIB. This was going to be a tough journey not only for the two skippers but for all those they love too. It will be a long hard nine months before we are able to see most of them again.

We are now nearly at the end of the first leg down to Cape Town. It has of course been a journey of many firsts - for both of us. Jeremy had never crossed an ocean before, now he has crossed both the North and South Atlantic. Jeremy had never been at sea for more than about 10 days, David not more than 30. Both of us have dipped our toes into the famous Southern Oceans where we will spend the next few months.

Like all of these things there have been the highs and the lows, the ups and the downs but there is no doubt that we both feel as if we have come out on a high with a great achievement under our belts. The first few days were beset by instrument failure and this undoubtedly cost us dear in terms of competitiveness - we had to hand steer by the seat of our pants with no data on wind angles or boat speeds. At the same time, our navigation software was on the blink and we had very limited chart data. We were at the back of the fleet, tired and frustrated. For a moment we even seriously considered turning back to Portimao for repairs.

As soon as the instruments were up and running again, we were beset by what proved to be the lightest winds of our race. Now that we had the data, all it could tell us was we were drifting in circles! Soon however it picked up again and we were headed once again to the Canaries and for the first time really had the opportunity to consider tactics. Normal routing is through the middle of the island group but the weather was suggesting a possible easterly course and a couple of the boats in the Volvo Race had made some gains on their fleet in the last couple of days by going this way. Rightly or wrongly, we decided to hedge our bets for a couple of days and take a route which would leave either option open to us.
We were pushing hard with strong winds, full main and fractional kite, hitting 20 knots and Oh Yes! we were riding that Crest of the Wave.. Bang! Our over enthusiasm and excitement had cost us dear and we we now faced the rest of the leg with a shredded fractional spinnaker - something we would seriously regret later in the race. Still we ploughed south. East or West? The lead boats, Beluga and Cape Horn had taken the westerly route and we thought we may be able to take advantage with the alternative route. You don't win this game by following your leaders. The forecast was looking good, the satellite images favourable but is was all a fine balance and we were still hedging our bets. Late night phone calls to Chris Tibbs, our weather router and to Alex Thomson, David's brother, convinced us to go west - until the last minute when the latest weather showed a shift. We had lost some miles and ended up following the fleet through the islands.

We were still very limited on electronic navigation charts and now had to dig out the paper charts we never thought we would need and plot our course the old fashioned way. At this point we still didn't know that the main navigation instruments hadn't been calibrated properly with the GPS system - one was reading to magnetic compass and the other to true. The difference at home was just too small to be noticed. In Northern Europe the magnetic variation is below 3 degrees, in the Canaries it is a little over 6 (and in the South Atlantic over 25). Jeremy at the chart table making the calculations and passing instructions to the helm with adjusted course headings as we passed by the small outlying northerly islands of the group and still we were heading closer and closer to land. The charts were of quite a large scale and it soon became apparent that not all of those rocky little islands showed up on the chart as they loomed out of the murky misty night just a little too close for comfort.

Southward through the islands, keeping well off shore - always a little too far for that cherished mobile phone signal that would have enabled us to make that looked forward to call home. Fair winds and making some ground on the guys in front and starting to edge ahead of Kazimir who were taking a more westerly approach. The days were long and gloriously hot as we flew between Gran Canaria and Tenerife being wary of the looming wind shadow these mountainous islands cast to the south. In the middle there is a wind acceleration zone - fall off that and you find yourself in the shadow.

Heading south towards the Cape Verde Islands we opted for routing closer to the coast of Africa where the wind blows steady off the coast so long as you are not too close to the shore and find the wind dying on you through the night. We were about 60 miles off the coast of Mauritania with Jeremy on the helm at about 6am when he spotted a fishing boat - we hadn't seen any boats for days so this was a welcome confirmation of life out there! As the hours ticked past however it became clear that he wasn't fishing and that he was keeping track with us - and that track was getting closer and closer. By the time he was half a mile off to our port side, Jeremy was becoming decidedly nervous and woke David. We knew this part of the African coast had something of a reputation for piracy and we didn't know what these guys were up to. They continued to follow us, coming to a point directly behind us only about 250 metres away. We prepared our box of flares - our only means of self defence - and alerted the race organisers of our concerns and of our position. Josh was concerned but helpless. He suggested we gybe away from the coast but the 'pirates' had now moved to our starboard side effectively blocking that move. In some ways we also didn't want to appear to be running from them and possibly alerting them to our concerns. They never moved any closer but they were still there and this is after some four or five hours. What if they did make a move, what if they had called up some of their mates, what if, what if?? Just keep on sailing. Eventually they drifted off further and further until they were blessedly out of sight and we could relax once more. They did reappear again late in the afternoon on the horizon and again we worried that they would perhaps make their move at night .. but they soon disappeared and we could just put it all down to experience!

Still, to the Cape Verdes and routing choices to be made. Head to the west or again through the islands. We were conscious that getting west between this point and the dreaded doldrums was going to be the big issue but still routing to the east looked tempting even though the leaders had gone much further to the west. The wind was just about right for us to be able to sail deep, just to the east and then to gybe across. Except for the last minute shift that is and we ended up cutting through the group on much the same tracking as the others. A few more miles lost and the leaders were now some 400 miles ahead and the gap was growing by the day.

The tradewinds were blowing steadily and we were making good ground south but not enough to the west - we just can't sail dead down wind and the other gybe would put us on a slightly northerly heading which of course you are loathe to do. So, running as deep as you dare while keeping boat speed up as high as you can and going where you can, headed towards the notorious Doldrums, known more for its very light winds that for its ferocious squalls that catch out many a sailor. Beluga had tracked through further to the east, against every rule in the book, and had a good crossing under their belts and the Chileans were headed much further to the west - even further than we had hoped to be. As soon as you hit this zone, south of about 10 degrees north, all you want to do is to go south, south, south - even if it means going a bit east, if the route has more south in it then we must take it.

We worked hard to play the squall clouds, heading towards them when we could but trying to avoid getting caught by them. There are good winds on the fringes and we were fortunate in being able pretty much to bounce from one system to the next and start gaining some real miles back on the leaders. By the time we came out of the doldrums, Beluga was still some 500 miles ahead but the Chileans were less than half of that and still going slow. We were into the new south-east trades and heading towards the scoring gate at Recife with the bit between our teeth and gaining on every three hourly position report. Gradually we clawed our way back into second place, still some 250 miles behind the Germans, and managed to hold this position until after the scoring gate, but the Chileans were gaining on us once more.

As we headed down the coast of Brazil, the Chileans managed to slowly eat into our meagre 50 mile lead over them until we were neck and neck. We were still quite a long way to their south but they were further east and therefore as close to Cape Town as we were. There followed the most intense week of match racing between our two boats and the leader board showed our positions changing some fourteen times or twice per day. The lead we held over each other never extended to more than about 10 miles before the other would start gaining again, take the lead for a while and then lose it once more.

We now had to decide on routing from Brazil to Cape Town and how best to get round the famous South Atlantic High that tends to hover between the Azores and the southern cape. All conventional wisdom says head into the deep south, perhaps as far as 43-44 degrees south - well into the Southern Oceans. Beluga had gone for a very northerly route, hoping to find a way around the top of the high and it always looked as if the Chileans would head south but try to cut the corner at the same time. In theory at least there was an advantage to us being far to the south even if it meant covering more miles - for every mile south, we would have to sail it back again to the north. The Germans had by now extended their lead over us to some 600 miles and the Chileans were still level pegging.

As we headed south the weather got heavier as we ran into the edge of a Southern Ocean low pressure system. We had to seriously downsize sails in gusts of up to 42 knots and a large swell prevented good boat speeds. Sixty miles to the north however the Chileans were having a better time of it and their newly designed Class 40 boat with larger headsails is made for reaching and they were gaining good miles on us with every report that came in. We still thought we were in with a chance but were missing our fractional kite but had to push. So up with the masthead kite in more wind that we should. We were cooking with gas and flying along in 25 knots. Pilot on, middle of the night and a big wave picked us up into the wind and a major broach. Mowgli nearly on her side and the kite was shredded along with our dreams and all hope of catching the Chileans.

Well history will show that the Germans eventually struck it lucky with the weather, having for some time been looking on a very sticky wicket. They have been out in front of the fleet for very nearly the whole of this leg and truly deserve their win. We had narrowed their lead over us to about 150 miles but the Chileans were in better weather than us slightly to the north and therefore able to get much better boat speeds in calmer waters. They made tremendous gains on the Germans, getting to within 30 miles of them and making for an exciting finish day with Team Mowgli some 200 miles to the rear of the leaders.

Still, after 7,200 miles of sailing and at sea for just over five weeks, to lose by less than 200 miles or a day's sailing is something we can both be truly proud of. We have enjoyed our first challenge and look forward to the next leg.
Above all, we have had fun, enjoyed each others company - for the most part! - eaten some truly awful food, grown beards (what will my Mum say?!) and had a life experience I believe few can rival.

There is still a long way to go... the race is still on.

Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson




Top yachtsman joins Team Mowgli

David Thomson will co-skipper Team Mowgli in the Portimão Global Ocean Race.

British yachtsman, David Thomson, has joined Team Mowgli as co-skipper for the Portimão Global Ocean Race which sets sail from Portimão, Portugal on October 12. Thomson will replace Victoria Sanders-Perrin who has chosen to give up her berth on board the Class 40 yacht for personal reasons. Thomson’s impressive sailing resume strengthens the double-handed team, and along with fellow Brit Jeremy Salvesen, they are certain to be a top contender for the race.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be asked to join Team Mowgli,” Thomson said. “I have been working alongside Jeremy and Victoria for months as shore crew and have been envious of them as they readied for the race around the world. It was always planned that I would be able to step in and sail on board the boat if either Jeremy or Victoria were forced to withdraw and while I was not expecting it to happen, I welcome the opportunity and challenge.”

Thomson has vast offshore sailing experience including at one point holding four world records as crew on board the giant catamaran Playstation. He has also been an integral part of the top Open 60 campaign Hugo Boss skippered by Thomson’s brother Alex. In fact later this year both David and Alex will find themselves in the same Southern Ocean waters as David competes in the Portimão Global Ocean Race, and Alex in the Vendée Globe solo, non-stop around the world race.

“This is a real coup for the Portimão Global Ocean Race to have David as one of our skippers,” said Race Director Josh Hall. “He is a talented sailor and will be a driving force on board the boat. Bringing him on board as co-skipper puts Team Mowgli squarely in contention for line honours.”