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Around Alone Report February 21

Fila closes on Somewhere

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

For the 2nd day in a row Fila has caught up to Somewhere.  Remember Fila will be granted a time allowance for rescuing Isabelle Autissier, so Fila need not make up the entire deficit to win.

The leaders of Class II continue to battle heavy weather.  The storm and high winds now range from 45-56 degrees south 85-115 degrees west.  The leaders are sailing out of it, while the last 3 of Class II will begin to sail into it.

Fleet Round Up:

Somewhere leads the race.  The gap to 2nd place Fila is 323 miles. 

Fila is now 2nd 323 miles back.   At last report Fila was sailing at 16.8 knots, 2.3 faster than Somewhere.  

Cray Valley is 1st in Class II by 161 miles, 41 less than yesterday. J.P.'s recent sailing has been as follows: " The wind is from the North West at 45 kts gusting to 50 and the seas are big. I am going 14 kts with a triple reefed main and no jib and it is extremely bouncy."

Magellan Alpha is 2nd in Class by 161 miles, a significant gain of 41 miles.. Mike Garside has had a bad incident in that a running backstay had to be fixed and a good incident in a favorable windshift.  On these incidents he comments: "And when I look at the large part luck has had to play in the game so far it seems that the good and the bad come out pretty evenly."

Balance Bar is 3rd in Class II by 262 miles a 37 mile difference in favor of Balance Bar. 

Next is the first of the 40 foot Class II entries, Wind of Change.  Wind of Change is 494 miles back, a 16 mile gain.

Next is Shuten Dojhi II.   Shuten lies 1525 miles from 1st place.

Next is www.no-barriers.com.  Neal Petersen is 1774 miles back. 

Paladin 2 comes next 1929 miles back.  

What does it all mean ?

With both leaders margin narrowed any hope of declaring victory is premature.