What a competition! With approximately 4,600 miles to the finish just 127 miles separate 1st from 9th this morning on the 65th day in this most closely fought solo non stop around the world race ever. The winds have not yet steadied and are still a bit variable in strength and direction off the coast of Brazil. But this leading group are all reporting winds from the ENE which are expected to swing round to the east further north level with Recife, between 10 and 14 knots and their speeds are varying between 8 and 12 knots. Yannick Bestaven, furthest west of the group, has squeezed back into the lead with a two mile advantage on Charlie Dalin’s Apivia. Louis Burton in Bureau Vallée, who lost time repairing his mast track in the lee of Macquerie Island, has moved up into third place just pushing out Thomas Ruyant in Linked Out but he is only 24 miles from the top.
Charal in 16th place is about to overtake La Fabrique, with Pip Hare 87 miles further back. Pip is 2,171 miles behind Maître CoQ. They have fresh to strong SW winds at the moment on the back of a low pressure system and are making the most of them as it looks as if another high pressure will form near them by Thursday evening. Three more boats will round Cape Horn today and Miranda Merron, holding 22nd, has probably got four more days sailing before she gets there.
Alex Thomson has left Cape Town to sail his boat Hugo Boss home to Gosport. It must be so frustrating for him, knowing he should have been up there with the leading group, if not leading them, had he not suffered a broken rudder.
The 23 metre long trimaran Maxi Edmond de Rothschild had a bad day, covering only 627 miles in the last 24 hours, an average of 27 knots, but she is now showing 34 knots as she passes the Cape Verde Islands in some productive North East Trade winds.