Mark Slats Finishes the Golden Globe

Dutch sailor Mark Slats, 41, took second place in the nonstop, round-the-world, solo Golden Globe Race last night aboard his Rustler 36 Ophen Maverick. Despite the late hour, Dutch, French and British supporters showed up in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, to applaud his efforts to pass race winner Jean-Luc Van Den Heede as the two battled each other in the Atlantic Ocean. In this old-school race, an homage to (and an attempt to recreate) the first Golden Globe Race in 1968, Slats circled the globe in 214 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes and 43 seconds. But race organizers slapped him with a 36-hour penalty for improper sat phone use, which leaves him with an adjusted race time of 216 days, 00 hours, 18 minutes, 30 seconds. The boats carry satellite phones for emergency use only.

Early in the race, a tactical decision to follow the traditional clipper ship route on a wide sweep around the western side of the South Atlantic put Slats 900 miles behind VDH at the Cape of Good Hope. The Frenchman then extended his lead to 2,000 miles through the Southern Ocean, before his Matmut, another Rustler 36, pitchpoled some 1,900 miles west of Cape Horn. VDH then had to nurse a damaged mast for the rest of the circumnavigation.

Slats grasped the opportunity to catch up. By the time he rounded Cape Horn, the Dutchman had regained 500 miles. By the time they reached the Azores, the difference between them in terms of distance to finish was less than 50 miles. That’s when Slats’ luck ran out. Due to questions over the validity of his Ham radio license, Ham radio operators ostracized him. He thus missed out on regular weather updates at a critical period. “I didn’t get forecasts for seven days and ran straight into calms.”

There were also issues with Van Den Heede’s Ham license, but as he put it when talking to Slats on the dock, “I had a few French friends who kept broadcasting to me.” VDH was soon 400 miles ahead again and kept this cushion to the finish.

Slats’ most frightening moments came in the Indian Ocean. The same 60- to 70-knot storm that put paid to Ireland’s Gregor McGuckin and Indian Abhilash Tomy’s challenges slammed Ophen Maverick. “We agreed to keep in radio contact every three hours,” recalled Slats. “We spoke to each other on the first two scheds, but there was no one there for the third. I learned later from Race HQ that they had both capsized and lost their rigs.”

Two major knockdowns slapped Ophen Maverick. During the first, Slats was thrown overboard and saved only by his lifeline, which catapulted him back onto the cockpit floor. “It was a massive knockdown through 120°. Then I suffered another which filled the boat right up to the level of the nav station. That’s when I began to pray — and they were obviously answered because after pumping by hand for an hour, and with two electric pumps working, I managed to get the boat dry.”

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, winner of the first Golden Globe Race 50 years before, sent Mark a congratulatory note: “You have my respect for a very difficult voyage well accomplished. To be second to Jean-Luc is to be at the highest level of solo sailing. A fantastic performance.”

Three skippers remain on the racecourse: Estonian Uku Randmea, American Istvan Kopar, and Finn Tapio Lehtinen. The latter is the only one still west of Cape Horn.

Latitude 38’s racing desk also received a news flash this morning from Spindrift 2’s Jules Verne Trophy attempt. Skipper Yann Guichard contacted his shore team to report damage to the starboard rudder. It is currently nighttime in the Indian Ocean, which has hampered the crew’s assessment of their situation. The maxi-trimaran is currently sailing at 15 knots some 1,200 miles off Cape Leeuwin, Australia. See www.spindrift-racing.com.