2007

“I WILL NEVER OCCUR BY WON BECAUSE TO LEAVE IT IS A LACK OF CHARACTER AND ANGER”
 

After arriving with great difficulty at Norfolk, Graham Dalton decides not to leave and to continue until Bilbao.  After completing the 2 stages of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, the tenacious one skipper will not be able to compete in 3ª stage but it will sail until Bilbao to complete his own personal trip.  “I believe that all the landlords and the liking we agree in which Dalton follows officially in regata”.

It has had to confront terrible storms, problems with the rudders, breakage in the equipment, 50 winds of Km/hora and giant waves that made him fear for their life reason why it got to call by satellite to take leave of its family. It arrived at Brazil to repair the rudder and falls ill, they rob the instruments to him of the boat, and when it returns to start off it loses the bulb in the port of Strength. It makes one new and sorprente him an enormous storm that bursts the Genoa to him and that forces to look for refuge to him.

To the 02:57 local time (08: 57 Spanish hour) of today, Wednesday 25 of April, more than brave solitary navigator Graham Dalton arrived finally at Norfolk, virgina, 101 days after leaving the Australian Port of Fremantle, in which it has been a epic battle crossing the most ferocious oceans of this Maximum Challenge alone. Having finished 2ª stage, according to the rules of regata stage will not be able to compete in 3ª and in the classification it will appear as “Stage did not take the Exit of 3ª”. Nevertheless, after a trip that has attracted the attention and the enthusiasm of followers and people worldwide, the determined landlord sailed until Bilbao to complete its own personal trip and a monumental return to the world, unequivocal demonstration of its character and its conviction.
 
Is hard blow for this landlord experimented, that hoped to finish regata in honor to its Tony son, who died of cancer in 2005, and to reach this tremendous profit after its retirement of the last edition in 2002 due to the mast breakage to double Cape Horn. On board a boat Open 50, with the name of its son, regata of Dalton been has plagued of problems that have taken to him to carry out nothing less than six shutdowns in several points of the world. In the sea, TO SOUTHERN MAN AGD it sailed fast but it underwent extreme weathers and strong winds that would have put on approval the nerves of the hardest competitor.

 
To its arrival to Norfolk, a philosophical Graham Dalton has commented” On the one hand, I am enchanted to be here, but at the same time very sad. It does 5 or 6 weeks, it only was to 3,000 miles of Norfolk and located to arrive 1,000 miles in front of Robin. Not to take the exit of 3ª stage is dissapointing, the truth, but that is the situation. I cannot do much before this, to only arregar them to me as it can”
 
“To never occur by won. I see it like a lack of character. I see it in the candle I see, it in other sports: when anybody is not winning, for this reason, it leaves. It is a heresy, a lack of character and a lack of anger. You cannot desanimarte because you will be good days and bad”.
 
“To complete this return to the world he is something that I want to do for 40 years and have worked for that reason all my life, not only in this 2º stage but during 40 years. Everything what you have done in the life was directed towards this. But these things happen. I am going to go to Spain. I said and dire before to it again: it will snow in Ecuador before I leave. I cannot change to a decision administrative, is a simple fact of the life, but I can change my form to react before it. And my reaction is to do what I must do here and I will arrive at Bilbao”.

The norms of regata establish that a participant must pass a minimum of 72 hours in Norfolk and to begin the third stage within the term of one week after pistolazo of exit. The other patrons the past left Norfolk to the 12:20 hours of Wednesday 18 of April. Therefore, to fulfill the norms of the 72 hours, Dalton had to arrive at the port of Virginia before the 12:20 of Sunday. Although no longer the truth could finish officially regata, is that it has completed a circumnavigation of the planet, since its day's work of qualification for the VELUX 5 OCEANS was from Norfolk to Bilbao, reason why its arrival to Norfolk will close the circle that began in September of 2005.
 
It seemed that Dalton was going to arrive in time at Norfolk, until the luck played last bad a past one to him with a storm that left to its done Genoa shreds and damaged the system of autopilot, forcing to him to carry out a shutdown in the Bermuda islands. The norms of regata also dictate that the use of external attendance is penalized with 48 hours in port. Thus TO SOUTHERN MAN AGD it would have had to cross almost 600 miles in little more than 24 hours, from Bermuda to Norfolk, so that Dalton could continue in regata without failing to fulfill the norms.
 
From the main office of regata, David Director Adams has commented “Is a very tragic end for a participant so dedicated and working. In spite of our pain and understanding of the situation of Graham, we must rely on the norms established in the Official Notification of the Regata and therefore to disqualify to Graham Dalton in the category “did not finish”. To Graham would like to continue sailing and to finish it the route in Bilbao, and by all means we will provide all the support to him that needs.”
 
“This regata is called the Maximum Challenge alone and the truth is that he is one of the sport events more duros of the world, that to us puts physical on approval, mental and emotionally. The history of Graham in this regata has drawn people attention anywhere in the world and we would want to be thankful to all messages of support, that we have transmitted to Graham. To finish this regata in honor to its son and to tie the loose ends of 2002 were the objective of Graham. Lamentably no longer it will be possible, but it must serve as inspiration the dedication and tenacity to us that has shown to us. One has not surrendered at any moment in spite of all the obstacles and bad luck which it has had to face. I hope to return to see him compete in four years, and know that everybody wishes that one day finishes the Maximum Challenge alone.”

To never occur by won
The history of Dalton during the VELUX 5 OCEANS has been a full hunting of emotions, simple drama and bad luck. Nevertheless brave the New Zealand one never has occurred by won during regata, in spite of the tremendous storms which it has faced, the damages suffered in A SOUTHERN MAN AGD and the other dramas that have arisen in this campaign.
 
Graham appeared to regata with a new boat but without sponsoring, choosing to name the boat by its Tony son, who died tragically of cancer in December of 2005. It arrived at Bilbao with very just a short time before the exit after a disastrous day's work of qualification through Atlantic, during which it contracted septicemia and it ended a destroyed rudder.
 
Dalton lost the official exit of the first stage due to a storm that spent through Bilbao three days before the same, causing damages to the equipment of the mast, that was disassembled in port. This delay caused that Dalton got rid of the famous Cantabrian storm in that devastated with the fleet, forcing in the middle of the participants to go to earth. Finally it left one week after the official exit and advanced favorably, until a problem of bearings in the system of Holy rudders forced to him to carry out the first shutdown in Porto, near Madeira.
 
Sailing to top by the Austral Ocean, the boat of the Dalton, smallest of regata, stayed to the rate of many of the 60 feet, but once again it was forced to stop, this time in the French colony of the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean. While Dalton approached Western Australia to finish the first stage, regata only spent the Christmas Eve in the sea in the middle of the worse storm of all the when being enters two zones of low pressure, with wind gusts of wind of up to 150 km per hour and gigantic waves. Dalton, navigated and wounded, called to house to take leave of its family, fearing for its life. Nevertheless he obtained, it and in spite of the two shutdowns, a smaller boat and the destroyed greater candle, the brave landlord arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, in fourth place, a day before the Basque landlord Unai Basurko.
 
But to its arrival, Dalton discovered that to his Robbie wife a breast cancer had diagnosed him during the first stage and that him a mastectomía had practiced. Luckyly she had been able myself to eliminate the tumor completely and Robbie notified to him to Graham to its arrival to Fremantle, knowing that if had been said it in the sea, perhaps it would have gone to port and it did not want that Dalton stopped fulfilling its dream. To Dalton only it had left days to prepare their boat for larguísima second stage until Norfolk, Virginia, but it managed to arrive at the line of exit in conditions.

 
2ª stage: an incredible decision in Strength
After a strong beginning, registering impressive speeds, a fuel flight on board contaminated its food and once again Dalton had to go to port, this time to Bluff in its native country of New Zealand in the South end. It was reincorporated to regata next to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Unai Basurko, and the three began an authentic race by all the Austral Ocean until the Cape Horn. Sailing with a good yield, Dalton had to stop in the Falklands Islands to repair a candle car again.
 
Shortly after returning to weigh anchor, the cassette of the port rudder arrived the disaster completely when disintegrating itself, and arrived as it could to Strength in Brazil. During its stay, Dalton fell ill with one serious gastroenteritis, and in addition it underwent the robbery of the computer side along with all applications of navigation and email. In spite of all these misfortunes, Dalton was prepared to return to leave to the sea, but nothing else to weigh anchor discovered that there was lost the bulb of the keel. Without possibilities at heart of realizing a search of navy, Dalton, tenacious as always, came to order the construction of a new bulb in a shipyard of the zone.
 
Incredibly, Dalton returned to the basic sea the 4 of April with a new keel and equipment for navigation, and everything indicated mainly that it could arrive at Norfolk in time to begin the third stage, because the exit had been delayed due to a great weather in the coast this of the United States. Nevertheless, a Genoa teared to shreds, and failures in the autopilot killed the hopes for this hero of the adventure and his beautiful dream.
 
The organization of regata will continue supporting Dalton, that has been a so integral part of the VELUX 5 OCEANS.