The elastic game
After several days becalmed and idle that made doubt of her eastern strategy, Kirsten is finally moving in an easterly wind which seems to be holding. She resumed her course yesterday evening at 4 knots, sailing at 6 knots this morning with a total of 110 miles/24 hours! It’s not far from Abhilash’s 135 miles with a gap that is stabilising. Also the wind seems to be holding for her while Bayanat should slow down in the next 24 hours. Big suspense at the head of the fleet!
Simon (CH) is still at 150 miles/24 hours and is a day’s sail from Trindade Island where he tried to mouse a halyard on the way down (no success) and could be the second sailor to cross his own wake. At 36°S, Michael chose to tack for a lucky escape to the north of the high, but neither he, nor the high pressure, seem likely to move significantly between now and the end of the week. The wind will return from the NNW on Saturday, it will be upwind sailing after all for Nuri!
At 55°S, Jeremy (CH) has started to go up the Atlantic and will round Staten Island later today, reaching the latitude of Port Stanley in the Falklands on Saturday. He is in a fresh 25-knot northerly, gusting to 40, which will rotate west in the afternoon after the front passes through. Ian, arriving at 54°S, 700 miles from Cape Horn, is continuing his metronomic pace at 100 miles/day making for an easy ETA calculation. The SW wind will hold until Saturday, when a stronger but 30 to 40 knots NW front goes through his position.
