Please consult The Around Alone Report Users Guide for an explanation of this report.
Fila is on schedule to finish Wednesday morning. This will give Fila a 2nd straight leg victory.
Fleet Round Up:
Fila is the last Class I boat standing. At last report Fila was 236 miles from the finish sailing at 7.6 knots on a course of 045 degrees. Fila will likely battle headwinds until she finishes sometime on Wednesday.
Somewhere has reached the Falklands. As Somewhere closed on land a thick fog developed. With Somewhere under a tenuous jury rig, March Thiercelin had few maneuvering options. Also, he had to be inside 10 miles from the harbor before excepting a tow. He overcame all of this and is now safely in harbor.
Now that Somewhere is safe they can put their plan to get back into the race into action. On Thursday a new aluminum mast is to arrive in the Falklands. Likely it will arrive via the British Air Force. Due to a diplomatic conflict between Britain and Chile there are no commercial flights to the Falklands. In addition to the new mast a new mainsail has already been sourced.
Cray Valley is 1st in Class II by 62 miles, 2 less than yesterday. J.P. Moulgine has been have recent difficulties. Top among these is his masthead gennekar halyard block failing sending the gennekar swimming. J.P. reports: "It was 4 hours of hard labor to hoist the sail back on board, climb to the top of the mast to set a new block and halyard and reset the gennaker." After this J.P. reports: "I was becalmed for 6 hours, average speed was 1.6 kts... I even got a note from Isabelle on FILA wondering how I was doing. This is the kind of speed you usually do upside down." Still and all with 872 miles to the finish Cray Valley is in the lead, a place J.P. Moulgine has never really given up.
Magellan Alpha is now 2nd 62 miles back a small gain of 2 miles. Mike Garside has experienced variable winds since rounding Cape Horn. His most recent report is punctuated with the phrase, "Then the wind died." Magellan has a .3 knot speed advantage over Cray Valley.
Balance Bar is 3rd in Class II by 190 miles. Brad Van Liew commented on rounding Cape Horn: "I rounded the Horn early in the daylight hours yesterday and the weather allowed me to go as close as I wanted which was a thrill. It is just a big black and green rock but the fact that it is also the southernmost point of the settled world makes it pretty special." After making a repair to his mast, Brad says: "Now it's time to try and keep the boat moving in an effort to upset the Finot Twins."
Next is the first of the 40 foot Class II entries, Wind of Change. Wind of Change is 441 miles back. 31 more than yesterday. Wind of Change will round Cape Horn today.
Next is Shuten Dojhi II. Shuten lies 2003 miles from 1st place.
Next is www.no-barriers.com. Neal Petersen is 2127 miles back. Neal reports on the conditions he is experiencing: "Conditions are horrendous out here. I am encountering winds up to 50 knots. It is blowing dogs off chains. The seas are huge and confused." Further, Neal wryly comments: "I can't wait to get out of this south Pacific. It is not what the brochures say with its tropical islands, sandy beaches and dancing girls. It is unfriendly, cold and wet."
Paladin 2 comes next 2604 miles back. Neil Hunter says, "Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day which is just the sort I like. Nice following breeze and seas and a couple of gybes to keep on track, including one last night."
What does it all mean ?
All the boats of Class II will be having weather event though they are spread out over 2600 miles of ocean. The strong will survive and for the boats at the front win.