New leader on the water!
It is Abhilash who finally takes the lead of the GGR this morning, for a handful of miles, thanks to the extended ridge of high pressure that is temporarily trapping Kirsten. He too is in a wind transition but will quickly find the north westerlies brought in by the low to his north, while Kirsten will benefit a little more from the SW front. The two leaders and the fast cruiser Simon (CH) will all be downwind in the evening with only one spinnaker pole for the duo and 4% of the route to go.
The race is now uncertain for Michael, a solid third, who is finally finding his rhythm in the NE trade winds. The Austrian has to serve a 4.5-hour penalty for his incursion into the Pacific exclusion zone. He must sail 270 minutes under a determined latitude, the time is not added at the end of the race. He still hasn’t notified Race HQ of his intention to do the penalty, which would disqualify him from the GGR.
At the end of the fleet, Jeremy (CH) begins to feel the weaker trade winds as he approaches the doldrums at 3° south and the Northern Hemisphere he left in mid-October! He too is having an exemplary race, but the barnacles are getting in the way. At 36° S, Guy Waites is relieved to be out of the 40°, even if the Atlantic is not an easy task, in 2019 VDH had suffered bad weather in the Bay of Biscay. Ian is expected in Cape Town tomorrow!
