Around Alone Report for October 2

Soldini Stretches out, Wind of Change finally Starts

The Around Alone fleet is now 100% at sea.  The 40 foot Class II entry Wind of Change officially became the last start at 1700 last nite.

As we near the one week mark in Leg 1 both of the classes have leaders with substantial margins.  In Class I Fila has stretched out a 25.7 mile lead over 2nd place Gartmore, and 34.5 miles over 3rd place Group 4.  Cray Valley continues to lead Class II.  Her lead over Magellan Alpha is 26.7 miles and 45.1 miles over Balance Bar.

Skipper Giovanni Soldini utilized a different routing option than the majority of the fleet.  He took Fila north.  He described his plan this way: "we headed north looking for a bit of wind between the cyclone over the Bermudas and an anti-cyclone that was forming over Newfoundland."   Although not the safe choice due to added distance, it looks to have been the right choice.

While Fila stands first and north, PRB stands to the south.  At last report Isabelle Autissier had PRB down to 29 degrees 25 minutes of latitude.  It is believed that she has driven PRB in hopes of getting around a high pressure system. 

Meanwhile located in between Fila and PRB is Mike Golding and Group 4.  Golding has shied away from the corners of the fleet instead saying:  "up until now I have been sailing the percentages, a little shift this way and a
little shift that."  Golding feels he is in a good position no matter what the wind does.

Still, it seems the edge in Class I is with the northern boats.  At the last position report, Fila and Gartmore had speeds in the 10 knot range, while the rest of the class was 8 and below.

In Class II Cray Valley has a lead, but there is no celebration yet:  "They are going fast, and it is going to be a very long and competitive race."  The 2nd and 3rd place in Class II continue to sail almost identical routes to the south of Cray Valley.

Farther back in Class II Robin Davie has managed to come up with a work around to keep the water ballast system on South Carolina working.   In the process he had to use plumping pieces from his toiled.  So now Davie has " to sit on a bucket. - so its a bucket and chuck it job."

What to expect next ?  It looks like the back half of the fleet, and the boats to the north will have the most breeze.  The northern boats will benefit from wind from a cold front, while the back end boats will get wind from a high pressure system traveling to the east.  All in all though, expect the fleet to continue making slow progress. 

Finally, what do the sailors miss most ?  Neal Petersen on www.no-barriers.com reports: " What I miss most it ice cream."  Now, there is incentive to sail fast- no ice cream !