It takes two to tango
Simon and Michael came out unscathed of the first low pressure with good average speeds. Simon has just passed the latitude of his broken hydrovane and his sprint to the South has paid off: he is South enough not to suffer the effects of the violent front tonight before the second low. The system will hit them tomorrow afternoon, when they should both be heading east. With 330 and 250 miles to go respectively, they should round the famous cape for the first time during the weekend!
In the Atlantic, it’s all up towards the finish! Kirsten, who is receiving both weather faxes and weather information from Peter Mott, is attempting to sail around downwind on an NE route, extending her course to the East but still posting the best fleet average at 150 miles. Abhilash has just passed Port Stanley in the Falklands and is still on a very northerly course towards Trindade, it is too early to make a prediction, but Kirsten has a 600 mile lead with 6,000 miles to go, which would force Abhilash to sail 10% faster than her to catch-up before Les Sables d’Olonne.
Along the exclusion zone life is better for Ian and Jeremy who are back downwind after days of upwind sailing, although the seas are still ever confused. Ian, still at 44°S has to watch out for the high pressure coming in from the north, while Jeremy has already dived back towards the southern limit, taking advantage of the stronger winds. The South African is sailing extremely well, both in terms of placement and speed, signing the second performance of the fleet today with 137 miles and could widen his gap with Ian to 600 miles when leaving the Zone this weekend. Screaming 50s, here they come!
