On track
Ian (CH) enjoyed the protected and picturesque anchorage of Picton to look after himself and Puffin. He is planning to leave today at daylight. He called in for his safety call yesterday but the line was so bad that even the recording is unusable. Jeremy (CH) the fastest in the fleet this morning in a very southern Atlantic is already at 36°S. This means on the one hand that the temperature will rise quickly and on the other hand that the beautiful low-pressure system will pass to his South tomorrow. Finally!
Capt. Gugg is drawing a nice straight line, heading North, along 30°W and confirming his entry into the trade winds at 100 miles/day this morning. He is in fact catching up with the leaders at a rate of 50 to 70 miles per day, 1200 miles behind Kirsten. He should hit the doldrums in a week’s time, so it remains to be seen how much he will have closed the gap by then.
At the front, it’s unstable for everyone but Kirsten manages to keep Abhilash at bay, maintaining a 330-mile gap at 0800 UTC. They are both posting averages below 2 knots. Simon, favoured by his placement, still has a little more wind and speed than both, but cruising below a 3-knot average.
