The Velux 5 oceans leg 3 from New Zeland to Brazil finished in a sprint, with the second, third and fourth place boats all within sight of each other.
The big story seems to be how each skipper delt with mechanical issues aboard his boat as all three skippers had there fair share of troubles. Gutek had a loose keel, which ment he could only sail with the keel pined against the hull at maximum cant. This prevented the keel from working loose, but limmited his options at times. Derrick had mechanical issues with his engine and some issues with his navigational equipment. CSM, Chris Stanmore Major had sail issues. He had a 2+ m rip in his main that took him two days to repair in the lead up to cape horn. Then he had a minor rip in his head sail that he was able to fix with out dropping the sail.
In the approach to Cape Horn, Derrick and Gutek where with in site of one another, and CSM was a couple hundred miles astern. CSM made up the gap and passed both of the other boats and was leading into the last hour or so of the race. He then made a navigational error that required him to complete two more gybes to cross the line. This allowed Gutek to close the gap again and beat him accross the line by
40 seconds! This is the closest finish for any leg of the velux 5 oceans in History! Derrick trailed the other boats in by an hour. All three skippers were able to celebrate their safe passage togeather on the dock.
Here's a link to a video from Velux describing the action.
http://www.velux5oceans.com/#/latest-news/ocean-sprint-3-an-amazing-finish/1642
