Full-on
This weekend, the high-pressure system that is providing the leading group with tight power reaching conditions will be replaced by another one arriving from the south, which will put everyone upwind. In the meantime, they are taking advantage of the ideal conditions to work hard on their progress, between 165 and 170 miles per day for the first 6 boats, which are widening the gap on the next 7.
They have been making the speedo and statistics go above and beyond over the last 36 hours, improving all the records of the 2022 edition: 24-hour record for Kirsten with 183 miles, 7-day record for Abhilash with 1140 miles, and 4-hour speed record for Simon with 7.9 knots! In the whole fleet, only Damien this morning gained ground on Simon this morning.
Make no mistake, they are working hard for this. Pat decided to take the spinnaker down in lumpy seas, Gugg has lost the disco ball on Nuri’s dance floor, and Ertan is sailing on 3rd reef. Behind them it is a lot calmer for Elliott, Guy, Ian and Arnaud who are in a different weather system and favour the shorter northern route.
The first half of the fleet is now closer to Cape Town than Rio, the fleece jackets are out, and they may soon be able to get weather information to navigate the complicated meteorological systems the next week before meeting Don and the GGR team in South Africa.
