From Bike to Kayak to Bushwhack--Days Four and Five

A small amount of confusion and a lot of frustration ensue at Point of Control Four on the Island of Sutivan. First team in is Helly Hansen-Prunesco, followed over four hours later by Team Easy Implant, and both teams are raring to head straight into the next kayaking portion, but are told the clock will be stopped until morning, at which point the cruise boat Fitzroy Expedicion will escort them as much of the way as possible. While the Helly-Hansen Brits are told to put up a tent and wait until morning, the French are allowed to sleep in the barn when they arrive, saving what could be valuable time. So many people and several different languages is making communication a bit faulty.

When Team Spirit Canada arrive the next morning it is just after both teams have departed, and they are told that they cannot leave until they have an escort as well. This turns into a following morning departure, which they appear to find intensely frustrating. No doubt knowing the leading teams are more than a day ahead of you is discouraging, even when the clock has been set to account for incidental discrepancies.

Meanwhile, though the weather seemed good, on the water it was windy and wet for the first two teams, who had to battle vicious headwinds and more than meter-high waves to the next checkpoint. The departing teams the next day had the worst weather, however, and Team Buff considered pulling out at this point but were dissuaded by the organizers. Team Medilast Sport (with members from Spain, Chile, and Argentina) pull out of the race after arrival at Sutivan because team member Antonia Garcia, a last-minute addition to the team, is having an extremely difficult time keeping up. When she rolls into the estancia at Sutivan she cries with relief, hugs me hard, and immediately downs my full cup of hot tea. Team Calleva of the U.S., whose captain Mark Lattanzi has been fighting a severe cold for much of the race, are sticking to fourth place in spite of repeated necessary stops to allow him to recover from respiratory issues and fatigue. He remains optimistic and positive, though, with no obvious intentions of giving up.

The mandatory arrive-by time at PC3 has eliminated Team Almas Patagonicas of Chile, and Brazilian Team QuasarLontra Master, having taken a long time on the first trek and been ill-prepared in regards to food, also pull out of the race here. Team Trespass are the last to go out on the water from PC4. During a mandatory fifteen kilometer kayak portage a member of Team Buff (winners of the PER 2006) is attacked by mosquitoes so severely he requires two injections, and the team is ultimately advised by a doctor to leave the race, against their own wishes, as another team member, Javier Lopez, has been suffering from an older broken wrist injury as well. They are picked up by the same tiny navy boat that much of the press and organizers are on.



Four teams dive into the final trekking section, a 128-kilometer pile drive through some of the densest and thorniest thicket known to man, down steep gullies which could as easily lead to the edge of cliffs as to a glacial stream, across gushing rivers flowing over waterfall after waterfall. This trek will terminate at the Southern Cross at the southern tip of the world, and will be the final proving ground. Because the divide between the first two teams is only a matter of a few hours, a navigation mistake could cost either team first place.