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Mike Golding retires form the Velux 5 Oceans race

Green Blue Ambassador and Open 60 skipper Mike Golding announced that following the rescue of Alex Thomson and subsequent mast damage sustained to Ecover, he will retire from competing further in the Velux 5 Oceans Race. Mike had been sending us a series of weblogs with a green slant from the race, a copy of those sent before the retirement can be read below.

This decision to retire follows Golding's dramatic rescue of fellow competitor Alex Thomson and the subsequent dismasting of Ecover in the Southern Ocean, 1000 miles off the southern tip of Africa.

Since the incident Golding's team has worked tirelessly to find various solutions that would allow the yacht to continue racing. The team has received fantastic support from its sponsor, and the team's technical suppliers - each of whom were prepared to do whatever it takes to help Mike rejoin the race. Other generous offers of help have also been received from around the world. 

Mike commented,

"The decision to retire has been a very difficult one and one that has been taken in consultation with my sponsor. Clearly the timings and costs are a major factor, but from a competitive and safety standpoint there are additional factors that have finally led us to make this choice."

"Competitively Ecover will now be unable to catch the other boats on this leg. Therefore from a safety standpoint, I would be completely alone in the Southern Ocean without the safety cover extended by fellow competitors. Alex's problems and his consequent need to be rescued is a sharp reminder than we cannot ignore the safety implications of restarting from Cape Town so far behind the main fleet."

"As a team we also pride ourselves on high levels of planning and preparation in pursuit of excellence. To rejoin the race at this stage would put us firmly on the back foot and safety may well be compromised. This is unacceptable to me, the team and to our sponsor."

Mike Golding's Green Blue blog

Dramatic mid-ocean rescue

Much has happened onboard Ecover since my last Green Blue blog.

We have been inundated with flying fish, sprayed with ink by a giant squid (the boat not me), seen turtles dolphins and whales, enjoyed numerous species of sea birds - most recently the magnificent Albatross or Albert Ross as I call him. We have moved from the steamy tropics through the balmy South Atlantic and into the beginning of the frozen South. From an enviromental perspective there is much to be optimistic about, the Oceans, the very engine of our environment, as ever, providing a rich tapestry of wildlife and varied environments.

So for me to see just a single plastic bag or can floating past the boat in the south Atlantic may seem slightly irrelevant!

Given that I am travelling through millions upon millions of square mile of ocean, it a reasonable assumption that if I see just one item of waste - then we are talking about millions upon million of items in the ocean around me. I'm afraid that I saw many more signs than just the one!

At one point I had to take avoiding action to stop Ecover from sailing into huge 100ftX100ft polypropylene fishing net which was adrift in the middle of nowhere - I am sure a positive a joy to the turtles, fish and birds which will become entangled and die before this net is eventually consumed by the oceans action.

But the last visible impact of environmental pollution all but disappeared as we moved into the more remote South, or has it?

Our first safety waypoint to the SW of South Africa is designed to prevent the yachts from sailing too far south. This is done because of the increased presence and danger of icebergs in the Southern Ocean as billion year old glaciers and ice shelves break away from Antarctica and drift north to oblivion in rising global temperatures.

The invisible ozone layer, that is much depleted here, requires that despite the cold and overcast skies, sun block is required to protect from burning UV.

The invisible ozone layer, that is much depleted here, requires that despite the cold and overcast skies, sun block is required to protect from burning UV.

No, in moving South I may have escaped the visible signs only to arrive in a place where in fact, much more profound signs of global change lurk just beyond my vision.

6th November 2006 - Fishworks Night

Great gains for us all around in the last 36 hours, Ecover is, for now at least, past the Doldrums but our charge forward in the rankings has come to an end for now . We have not stopped, but we are headed and unable to lay the direct course. This is the early signs of the SE Trades but for now the wind is still shifty and squally. In these continuously changing conditions it is really difficult to know what to set as the sailplan - too much of a compromise and miles will be lost - to little compromise and something could get broken in one of these squalls. I saw 47 kts in a vicious squall yesterday and this morning under full sail Ecover was laid flat by sheer pressure of wind from a rain cloud before I could reach the mainsheet. It's in conditions like this the B&G autopilot is worked exceptionally hard, trying to match the ever changing wind. The pilots do an amazing job and they are getting better year by year - these are the best yet but occasionally a fast heading gust will tack the boat and the pilot can do absolutely nothing about it. What I like is that the B&G sounds an alarm then gamely continues to try to get the boat back on course, many pilots would fold at this point and release the helm which is the last thing you want. The only solution to this "hove too" condition (yes open 60's can "heave too") is to wear right around and gybe, a real pain but the best way to avoid damage. During the night we were bombarded by flying fish, some hit the boat so hard and so loudly, it sounded as if something serious had broken - several trips on deck with a torch revealed nothing but ever increasing numbers of fish. Travelling at around 30mph, if one of these things hits you , it hurts (plus it scares the bejesus out of you).

3rd November 2006 - Sealife and Bits

It would be easy to imagine that in our prolonged exposure to marine life we may become blasé about it. For me this is simply not true and, because the ocean drip feeds these contacts I doubt it is true of any one who puts to sea. Since the race start I have had birds on board (yes the feathered one's Andrea!), seen Dolphins including a tiny baby leaping through our wake in formation and even more impressive running alongside at night in the green glow of phosphorescence, yesterday I had the strange squid thing and flying fish galore and just moments ago a nudge against a turtle (minimum impact naturally) who looked stunned but otherwise fine after the great towering white beast from above woke his slumbering progress across the mid Atlantic. We are at last moving better again, under spinnaker at 12kts but the bungee has let Bernard away to virtually the same starting distance after Coruna which is mighty frustrating. The polls showed Alex slow this morning - I hear he is having to ascend the mast for some problem with his Solent. Kojiro is back on the money and as also pulled away a little but now, at last, I hope that may be set up on a port gybe in a good spot to be able to select my best ITCZ crossing. It will be important to do a good crossing if we are to prevent Bernard from a full on runaway of this leg. Manoeuvring (or just plain sailing) under the 400 sq mtr spinnaker with these boats brings you is the smallest step away from a major disaster, potentially destroying the sail or perhaps far worse. I have tried every known gybing technique but the reality is that I still say a little prayer before each manoeuvre and I still get right royal foul ups. There just seems to be no way of avoiding the perils of a gybe - Jean Le Cam claimed that on the last Vendee he did not gybe but tacked around each time - nice one Jean! No in reality praying and finger crossing seem about as effect as all other strategies.

27th October 2006

"The Velux 5 Oceans fleet were hammered in Biscay by an un forecast storm
which saw more than 70 kts of wind and huge seas totally strafe the fleet.
The result four well prepared ocean going racing yachts including Ecove
were forced to make stops within 72hours of the start of leg one of this
solo around the world race.

Was this a glitch in the weather and our forecasting? - or are larger forces
at work?

The reality is that this storm is most likely a purely local isolated event
but, - looking at other weather events in the news all around our planet one
would have to say that - there is general evidence of a trend towards more
and more extreme weather events, I think by now most accept this as a
straight fact. We know from the scientists that eventually, in the not so
distant future these effects will be far more significant than forcing four
race boats to stop racing, they are talking about real disasters of truly
biblical proportion.

This fact that we may not know how much we (the Human Race) contribute to
this change process is irrelevant - we all know in our hearts that we have
to change how we treat our planet if we want to continue to enjoy it fruits.
It is true that global weather has always been in flux over millennia but we
now seem to be seeing significant changes in mere decades !!!.

There will be no quick technology driven rescue for this type of global
change. It is a matter of grunting up for the long haul (- a bit like the
enormous circumnavigation ahead of me) initially through education and
seemingly micro measures changing what we do day by day. The result (if we
keep at it) will help lead to the cultural shift we need to improve and
sustain our local, marine and eventually even our global environment."

Knuckling down to the task - in pursuit of the end goal -
Mike, 188 miles west of Lisbon enroute to Freemantle Aus.

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