Around Alone Report for October 5

Cray Valley Nears Cape Town Magellan Alpha charges towards 2nd

With all of Class II still on the race course, the best race is between 2nd place Balance Bar and 3rd place Magellan Alpha.  At last report Magellan Alpha had closed to within 6 miles of Balance Bar.  Magellan Alpha is slightly to the south of Balance Bar.  Magellan's last reported speed was 9.2 knots compared to 10.0 for Balance Bar.  This match race likely has another 48 hours to go with both yachts on schedule for a Saturday arrival in Cape Town.  From Balance Bar Brad Van Liew reports grand sailing: "Anything more than the 20 kt area is time to slow down and the meter becomes the "fear meter." At this point in the off the wind condtions Magellan Alpha would seem to have the edge. 

The fast closing Magellan Alpha

Still in the lead is Cray Valley at this point 134 miles from the finish.  J.P. Mouligne reports surf up conditions: "It is like a roller coaster: Cray Valley gets to the top of the wave and starts to accelerate down in a giant surf, the speedometer goes from 10 to 18 knots in a few seconds."  Cray Valley is expected to finish within 24 hours

The 4th place yacht in Class II is Rapscallion III 1654 miles from Cape Town.  Robin Davies voyage on the rudderless South Carolina is not getting anymore pleasant: "With the increasing violent and jerky movement inside the boat, life has become quite difficult."  In 6th place is www.no-barriers.com.   Neal had a brief problem with his wind vane self steering mechanism, but got it fixed in short order.  With under 2,000 miles to Cape Town he says: "I am beginning to taste the ice cream."

7th place is held by Wind of Change, 32 miles in front of Shuten Dojhi II.  Finally comes Paldin 2.  Neil Hunter reports from Paladin 2: "G'day and g'dmornin to y'all, All's well."