No change at the front where the depression that has given the leaders some strong winds and awkward cross seas the past couple of days and has now moved off to the South East. This has given the boats some respite, albeit at the cost of speed and there are some calmer areas ahead of them. The straightforward Highs to the North, Lows to the South has been interrupted by some mixing which makes routing choices more complicated. Apivia still leads, although Linked Out has closed sightly to 186 miles. Bureau Vallee, the southernmost boat in the fleet, is a further 100 miles astern, 10 miles ahead of Maitre Coq 1V. Pip Hare still holds 20th place, 2,600 miles behind the leader and Miranda Merron is in 23rd 3,360 miles back. Yes we cam is lying 6th, 382 miles behind Apivia but has made good 359 miles in the past 24 hours.
The maxi trimaran Sodebo has gone much further south than the Vendee fleet as it is not restrained by the ice limitations put in by the organisers of the Vendee race, where it is finding stronger winds. It has a crew of 8 so can keep a constant lookout for ice although ice bergs do not show up as well as land on radar. We found that in those latitudes a lookout had to be relieved every 20-30 minutes because of the cold, and frequently visibility was down to less than 50 yards. Sodebo has covered 693 miles have been covered in the past 24 hours, which is an average speed of 28.875 knots compared with the 253, or 10.5 knots of Apivia