Patagonian Expedition Race
Teams Held at Estancia Perales
Rob Howard / 20.02.2016
Of the top teams only race leaders YogaSlackers moved past PC9 at Estancia Perales today. After sleeping during the dark zone YogaSlackers were able to take advantage of a short window of less windy weather to make the 6km kayak crossing to PC10. They made it just before squalls and storms blew up, as they do very suddenly here, and those behind them had to sit it out at Perales as the wind blew all day, stopping them for making any further progress on the course.
Most affected were Team Godzone Adventure who arrived in the morning and were getting ready to paddle when the wind got up. They have spent all day sitting around and sleeping at the transition, most of the time in a tin roofed shed with no doors or windows. They might have arrived earlier and kayaked but Jari Hiatt had another bout of sickness during the night and the team had to slow down, stop in Puerto Natales to sleep for an hour at CP8, and find some food. As they arrived in town late at night the only place they could find which was open was a nightclub! "We talked our way in," said Nick Gracie, "and they allowed us to bring our bikes in too.
The music was incredibly loud, but the guy there cooked us up some chips and we warmed up for a bit! Apart from the illness everything has gone well and I wouldn't necessarily change anything. We've been getting loads of sleep and made good choices and the team work has been good. The other 3 have just been ill, but you can push through that if you have to." He felt the team were getting some advantage over YogaSlackers if they kayak in the morning, which the forecast suggests will be possible. It has been a frustrating day for the team, but they will have had a lot of rest and as their time is neutralised from the time the decision was taken to stop the kayaking they've not lost out.
By the evening they had set up a tent behind the tin shed as it was getting crowded, but it may not be too restful in a tent in the powerful winds which are blowing. Team East Wind were the next team to arrive, having restarted the race from the point where Masato Tanaka crashed his bike. The team were taken back to the same point and rebuilt their bikes, including spending some time jumping on his front wheel to try and straighten it out a bit! Tanaka has his face heavily plastered and is wearing a neck brace, so is showing great courage to continue. Team Merrell Adventure Addicts were the next team to arrive later in the evening, all plastered in mud from the ride and looking glad to have arrived.
They were clearly disappointed not to be kayaking, and Graham Bird said, "we could handle these conditions easily!" but the gusting winds can be deceptive and anyway the decision was not his to make. Grant Ross said, "Can I swim?" and Hano Smit showed me the photo montage he has inside his bike box of his family (including the dog). "I see them every time I open the box," he said, "and it gives me a lift. It's on days like this that you need to think of them and miss them the most." The team had had a hard day of riding, they chose to sleep for 6 hours last night at PC7 and said it was a bad choice. It rained hard all night and they got soaked, then when they started to ride the wind had got up and they struggled to make progress against it.
Next in were the surprise package of the race so far, Team Mind Over Body from Canada. Sandra Baribeau told me it was their first expedition race and they've never raced overnight before. "We are surprised to be doing so well," she said, "but there is a long way to go so let's hope we can keep it up." She chose to wash herself off by sitting in the fiord and said, "The race is as hard as we expected, but the wind is more than you can imagine until you have experienced it. Patagonia is more than you can imagine, it's been so beautiful all the time." Team Norcal Odyssey are expected in next with more teams following through the night, and with luck they will all paddle in the morning.
Following the race should become easier as all teams are being issued with tracker units at PC9, trackable at the race website on http://www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com/live-tracking/ - of course, at the time of writing only YogaSlackers are on the move to be followed.
This report was submitted by YB Satellite Tracker direct from the race course.
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