Humpday!
It’s getting faster for the leaders, now sailing from beam to broad reach: 157 miles for Minnehaha and 155 for Bayanat. The gap between the two boats has stabilised but Kirsten will be stuck in the high tonight while Abhilash will be upwind. Equal points tomorrow when they will be both sitting still in a vast barometric swamp, but at 39° South for Abhilash they are both officially out of the Southern Oceans!
Behind them, Simon and Michael are heading east of the Falklands, keeping some leeway in the bank while prevailing westerly winds brought by the low-pressure systems are crossing the area at a good pace. The austral autumn has arrived! Both have suffered from unstable winds in both strength and direction but will benefit from westerly winds until Friday’s northern front, which is fortunately milder north of the Falkland Islands than south of them.
In the Atlantic, Ian will spend his second day in a southerly wind which is pushing him higher than he would like at 70, extending his route in the 400 miles he has left to cover to the exit. Unfortunately, he will be caught tomorrow by calms that are sure to test his patience again. His best asset in this? His British humour! Ian is averaging 3 knots of VMC at Cape Town compared to 4.5 for Jeremy, who is less than 1500 miles from the Horn and should arrive within two weeks!
