Velux race shrinks to 5

 
Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm aboard Cheminees Poujoulat has won the first leg of the Velux 5 Oceans race by arriving first in Fremantle, Australia, following a 42 day 22 hour and 18 minute elapsed time from the start off Bilbao, Spain. This was after British sailors Mike Golding and Alex Thomson dropped out of the race &mdash Thomson, after his boat Hugo Boss‘s keel failed and Golding following his boat Ecover‘s snapped mast. American racer Tim Troy was never able to get his boat Margaret Anna ready for the race and had to drop out.

These latest retirements leave four competitors to challenge Stamm: Japanese sailor Kojiro Shiraishi, seen at nav station above (Spirit of Yukoh), British legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnson (Saga Insurance), Kiwi Graham Dalton (A Southern Man AGD) and Basque racer Unai Basurko (Pakea). Read more at the Velux 5 Oceans site.

By Ocean Navigator