MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Velux 5 Oceans in Punta del Este; Van Liew with Le Pingouin wins third consecutive leg

Brad Van Liew cheered as he arrives to Punta del Este after almost 24 days at sea

The US skipper Brad Van Liew won his third consecutive leg in the Velux 5 Oceans race on Tuesday evening pulling into Punta del Este, Uruguay, eight days after rounding Cape Horn in his 60-foot Eco 60 Le Pingouin..

The 43-year-old from Charleston, S.C., sailed 6,530 nautical miles from Wellington, New Zealand, to Punta del Este in 23 days, 17 hours and 46 minutes. He is the overall leader in the five-leg, 30,000-mile circumnavigation.

This is the second time Brad has sailed into in Punta del Este with the Velux 5 Oceans, having competed in the 1998 edition when it was known as the Around Alone.
Sprint three took the fleet more than 6,000 nautical miles from Wellington in New Zealand to Punta del Este via Cape Horn, one of a sailor's most respected and feared landfalls in the world.

It was Brad’s third solo rounding of Cape Horn, making him the only American to have raced round the famous landmark three times single handed.

“Three legs won and three times round Cape Horn safely – those are two very important facts for me; two massive hurdles” the US skipper said as he stepped off the dock after 23 days at sea.

“It’s nice to have a nice point lead now - and it’s nice to be here in Punta. It’s a fantastic place and I’ve missed it. It’s great to be back.”

Brad sailed 6,530 nautical miles in an impressive 23 days, 17 hours and 46 minutes at an average speed of 11.5 knots.

After setting sail from Wellington on February 6, he reached Cape Horn in 16 days. After a frightening experience at Cape Horn in 1998, when his yacht was smashed by hurricane-force winds and seas over 20 metres high, Brad knew all too well the potential danger of the Horn.

“Cape Horn is always nerve-wracking and there’s nothing you can do about that,” he said. “The reality is that when you head down south to Cape Horn, there is a point where you jump off the cliff and there is nothing you can do about it – you have to deal with whatever is thrown at you.

Just a few hundred miles from the finish line, an ongoing battle for second place is raging between Derek Hatfield, Zbigniew ‘Gutek’ Gutkowski and Chris Stanmore-Major. At the 1800 UTC position report, only 10 miles separated the three skippers. All three are currently expected to arrive in Punta del Este on Thursday.