Is this still a race?

In the July 20, 2006 issue of Scuttlebutt (Issue 2141), the newsletter provided an advance report on the Velux 5 Oceans race, but also included the following Curmudgeon’s Comment:

“Scuttlebutt will undoubtedly follow this race given the top name skippers entered, and by virtue of the boats that they sail, which are among the fastest and most exciting classes of racing yachts available. However, with only ten entries listed, and with nine of them in the Open 60 class, time will tell how closely we will follow the race (Americans Tim Troy and Doug Hofman are among the entries in the Open 60 class).”

From that report to the Oct 22nd start of the race, the fleet dropped to seven entries (with six in the Open 60 class), with neither American Tim Troy nor Doug Hofman making it to the start line. Given the remoteness of this event to our North American audience, the lack of local entries, plus the shear lack of entries period, we were unsure how closely to follow the event as it approached.

The race is now in its 35th day, and there has been significantly more coverage in Scuttlebutt than any of us could have managed. Of course, the reasons for this are due to the enormously tragic events that have plagued the race. Huge storms and boat breakdowns have provided significantly more drama and story lines than this race should have earned. Thank god no one has been hurt.

Now the question is whether this is still a race at all. Most clubs need five entries for a start. Since Alex Thomson joined Mike Golding (following Thomson’s keel failure on Hugo Boss), their dismasting on Golding’s Ecover now has made their entry a doublehanded affair. Alex was supposed to be only a passenger, but when the mast went down, he was needed to put things back in order. How does that fit into the rules? Sir Robin is now peeling away from the course for the nearest port to address his auto-pilot problems. The rest of the fleet is limping, and hardly leading contenders on a good day.

Can you imagine how ridiculous this event would be without the two stops? Regardless of the elapsed time differences, what we need right now is some boat-on-boat action. But even with the stops, I am thinking race leader Bernard Stramm needs to pick up a Playstation 3 in Fremantle, as the rest of this “race” is appearing to otherwise be a book burner. – Craig Leweck