Alex is nicely past the front and lying a comfortable 4th, making good speed just 22 miles behind the leader, or under two hours. The fleet reported winds of up to 50 knots as the Front closed on them, not much fun when you are going into it and other damage has been reported but nothing structural. There is still a tight group of boats heading towards the eastern side of the Azores Islands, but his main competition, Charal, has turned back towards Les Sables with a damaged board and broken backstay. Now they have to head South West to work their way to the west of Storm Theta and through some variable winds but mainly favourable. Once past Theta, they are basically into the Trade Winds and can blast down to the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (The Doldrums) and that is when we will see who has the best boat speed.
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