28,500 miles later
For those who still have fingernails, save some for later!
Boldness and panache were Abhilash’s signature this weekend, as he showed off his strategic skills with a tack to the north in pursuit of a falling barometer to get out of the high-pressure system and into the low-pressure to his north. The move obviously cost him a few miles at the time, but the pay-off is in line with the investment: he crushes the competition this Monday with nearly 160 miles covered to the finish (DMG) in the morning!
In the trio, Kirsten is the only one to receive weather charts, and accelerates downwind on an eastern course on the edge of the north westerlies, in Simon’s (CH) wake. Her lead is now only 50 miles over Abhilash, or 24 hours at the current pace. Her main problem now is the high pressure to their west stretching out towards the Azores archipelago that could stop them tomorrow. It would then leave Abhilash to escape to her north, before the return of fresh winds with the front on Wednesday. Someone said nail biting finish?
Michael is frustrated in the NW trade winds which are giving him no respite. Difficult seas and wind alternating squalls and calms only allow him to cover 70 miles/day, half of the distance he clocked in the SE trade winds south of the equator. Worse, from 750 miles 12 days ago, the gap to the lead is now closer to the one in the south Atlantic: 1275 miles. Jeremy (CH) has no complaints and is going steady. Now at the latitude of Recife, he is racking up miles as he prepares to enter the doldrums. The ITCZ is mobile this week, but rather narrow at 30°W. Good move?
