Emma Aids Stricken Competitor

Following the tracker for the Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 left us a little puzzled when it seemed that the Bay’s Emma Creighton inexplicably got smothered by the ITCZ while the boats near her seemed to still be making progress. It turns out the reason was a very good one indeed: Creighton stopped to stand by for Aussie Scott Cavanough when he was forced to abandon his boat. Following a collision with a tanker that left his bow severely damaged and his rig in the down position on Monday night, Cavanough set off the distress button on his Argos beacon. Although there were no details, a report from race organizers indicated that Creighton stopped to stand by with Cavanough all through that night until one of the race’s seven escort vessels arrived to retrieve the latter on Tuesday morning. The stop seems to have cost Creighton dearly, as the Pot au Noir pushed south during that time. We’d be surprised if she doesn’t get some kind of redress for rendering assistance, but we won’t be surprised if she reaps heaps of good karma the rest of the way to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

Meanwhile, the leaders are into the southeast trades and legging out over the rest of the fleet as they aim for Fernando de Noronha. Leader David Raison and his crazy scow Teamwork Evolution are across the equator, with a 50-mile lead some 850 miles from the finish. His lead on overall elapsed time is much greater though, and it looks as if it will take a ctastrophe to stop him.