Back on track!
The tracker is back up! Simon and Michael do not really have time to savour their Cape Horn rounding, caught in calms below Staten Island on Sunday before getting heavy weather later with a WNW then SW gale today and another one from the west tomorrow on their passage between Staten Island and the Falklands. They were unable to receive Peter Mott’s forecast for their area yesterday, no doubt it will be very valuable to them in the days to come.
The intensity, size and frequency of the lows is starting to increase, including in the South Atlantic. Kirsten also experienced a sustained gale of 35, gusting to 50 knots yesterday, spending several hours hove-to. She is now back on track on the right course, allowing Abhilash to make up 40 miles overnight which he spent in milder conditions. Their week is shaping up to be one of very shifty winds, but for them the high latitudes are over!
There’s only two sailors left in the Pacific: Jeremy who got out of the exclusion zone, and Ian who has come close to 47°S but will suffer – again – from a calm day tomorrow. Ian is less than 600 from the exit of the zone, so the end of fair weather is near! Guy, who is no longer in the race but continuing his round-the-world trip, has passed the antemeridian and is therefore sailing a westerly longitude!