EarthRace 2006

Kevin, the crew changed their plans dramatically..and departed Barbados at 6am yesterday morning..from the Careenage in Bridetown. I was not even up from sleepign at that time. Anyhow their next stop for biofuel is in Panama. And Panama have given them opportunity to sail right through all the locks if they can get there before noon on Monday.
http://www.nationnews.com/story/315449620414643.php

Hey, Here are the scheduled and intended stops for the Earth Race on her 24,000 nm run around the globe.
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=3

...it appears that their props let them down. I would have thought that is one item that would have been left to more traditional materials such as stainless or bronze....similar results (bad) have been evident in attempts to use carbon-fiber in the construction of highly-loaded high-speed foils too.

That's a shame. I saw the vessel up close at the Miami Boat Show a month or so back and the crew was clearly hyped about their upcoming challenge(s).

Yes it indeed is true, Earth Race is currently trying to limp to Panama at 12 knots with out causing too much damage..
http://www.nationnews.com/story/344374011428403.php

Well it seems like the Earth Race recieved her new screws... and is on the way... she is out of Panama and on her way to Mexico i believe.

It's nice to read the blobs by the captain...they are interesting.

http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=41

Ventures of this order are never free of glitches. Good that they've overcome this problem. Wonder if the analysis of the prop failure cause will be made public?

Leak of a heat exchanger. Wonder when these people will catch a break.

What are you sayign Codger? That this was the reason that the carbon screws failed?

No. Just a note from the captain's log.They are having more than their fair share of tribulations.
Ground crew is being resourceful and finding solutions.
Quite the adventure so far.

Yea Codger, i see what you mean.. engine problems is the big problem now. I now had a look at the Global Tracking.. and it looks as if Earth Race is in Guatemala, however, this could be wrong though, in that it might not be updated currently. Their next stop is supposed to be Mexico in Acupulco.

The captains blog from yesterday (17th March)
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=41

Collision

Apparently the Earth Race crew had a collision at sea with a fishing vessel. The crew are fine but there is a missing fisherman. Does anyone know any more on this?

Where did you hear or read this West Aust?

I read it on a local news website.
www.smh.com.au

Apprarently they hit a 5m fishing vessel in the middle of the night. 1 fisherman is confirmed dead.
Very sad.

Oh yea.. wow, thanks from bringing the news, it is indeed very sad. But how could they have colided? Well they did say that the fishing vessel was running without any nav lights.. But i thought that Bethune would have picked it up on the Earth Race's radar... oh dear.. now this setback could shatter their attempts at the record.. I wonder how bad the Earth Race is damaged.. structurally.

Apparently only doing 15 knots too. I hope no criminal charges are laid against the Earth Race crew.

This accident must put an end to the record attempt for now, regardless of the boat is repaired or not. To continue would give reversed PR for all the sponsors. Sad for all, but most for the poor fishermen and their families.

Hi,

Here is the story off a NZ Website

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3998043a10.html

Hi, this is the exact same story as in the AU link above.... http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/i-tried-to-save-him-earthrace-skipper/2007/03/19/1174152933869.html

Hi Lars,

That could well be because the Sydney Morning Herald ( smh) and Stuff.co.nz are both under ownership of the Fairfax Organisation

Press Release

There is a press release about the accident on the Earth Race website...explaiining how everything happened. Very sad sequence of events though. You can view the press release at the following link..
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?action=view_article&id=24&module=articlemodule&src=%40random456b8bd73bbc2