Around Alone Report December 29

Fila ETA pushed back

Please consult The Around Alone Report Users Guide for an explanation of this report.

Fila still leads, but her arrival in Auckland has been pushed back. It's now looking like Fila won't finish until very early on the 31st.  Current figures put Fila 18 hours ahead of Group 4.

Fleet Round Up:

Fila has a 182mile lead.  Her speed of 8.2 knots is 5 knots superior to 2nd place Group 4.  Soldini is man enough to admit his mistakes, "Golding and the others have taken full advantage of the route that I should have taken to bring me to the best position to veer and then head for Cape North and the route to Auckland."  Still, Soldini has maintained his lead.

Group 4 is hanging onto 2nd.   With the situation still in flux, Golding still has a shot at 1st.

Somewhere is now 3rd 348 miles back.

PRB is sailing in 4th.   Isabelle Autissier has gained since her 9 hour pit stop.  Currently her 9.6 knots is the fastest in Class I.  Isabelle has this to say: "My position behind the fleet has helped me, for once."  With only 29 miles between PRB and Somewhere, Isabelle could have a podium finish yet.  In fact, despite all the troubles PRB could lose less than 24 hours to overall leader Group 4. 

5th is Gartmore 925 miles out of 1st.  Her speed is 11.3 knots.

6th in Class I is Modern University for the Humanities which is sailing at 8.6 knots, her fastest speed in sometime.

Cray Valley is the Class II leader, at this point by 396 miles over Magellan.  In addition Cray Valley has a 3 knot advantage in speed.  Despite all these good signs, J.P. Mouligne says: "I have built a good lead on Magellan but there is no such thing as a safe lead. Only when I cross the finish line will I be able to relax."

Magellan is 2nd in Class II. Mike Garside says that with the confused weather between him and the finish line: "I haven't a clue what to do."

Balance Bar is 3rd, 854 miles back.   Brad Van Liew is getting ready to go on the attack. Brad says: "I feel that 500 miles is a lot to make up and Probably isn't a possibility, but I am going to sleep my first night on shore knowing I gave it my best shot."  The Tasman Sea may turn to light air in the coming days. Balance Bar has shown superior light air speed, so Brad may have a chance at 2nd.

Wind of Change is 4th, 1115 miles from the lead. 

5th is now Shuten Dojhi II, which has a 186 mile lead over No Barriers.

6th is www.no-barriers.com.  Neal Petersen reports: "After 4 days sailing with no mainsail set, today conditions finally allowed me to set the mainsail, and the staysail, while increasing some genoa to about one third."  However, Neal's current speed is only 2.0 knots.   This would seem to indicate light air, or perhaps other troubles.

7th is Paladin 2, sailing along at 6.2 knots.  Neil Hunter's report is a positive one: "Today will hopefully see the 80 degree East meridian crossed and on my chart I can see Western Australia so things are starting to look good."

Rapscallion III has now officially dropped out and is returning to Cape Town.

South Carolina is sailing at 8.7 knots.  Robin Davie found a leak in South Carolina's main diesel tank.  He managed to transfer the fuel out, but is left with this situation,"diesel gets everywhere - it stinks, and its slippery - so you can imagine the diesel mess everywhere."

What does it all mean ?

Despite the slowing, Fila the class I leader should still finish this year.  Class II will have tougher going, sailing through a confused Tasman Sea.

Standings Table