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Please consult The Around Alone Report Users Guide for an explanation of this report.
Fila's Leg 4 keeps getting better as her lead expands daily. For Class II Magellan's 1st place spot has stabilized.
Fleet Round Up:
Fila's lead has grown again, now at 458 miles. Even Fila is sailing at a fleet high 14.4 knots.
Somewhere is the fleets 2nd fastest boat at 12.3 knots. Unfortunately this is of little help to Marc Thiercelin.
Magellan Alpha leads Class II by 120 miles 34 better than yesterday. Mike Garside has been checking his home country newspapers via the Internet. He's a bit peeved at their lack of support as they have chosen to report on Cray Valley's gain rather than the fact that regardless Magellan has stayed in the lead. This has caused Garside to race as hard as ever and wonder, "And if I succeed in my goal of winning this leg, and in so doing become the only Englishman ever to have won a leg and completed the race, I wonder what the British newspaper headlines will read." Another sign of the times is this incident. At one point sailors could be months behind on news. Not anymore!
Cray Valley is 2nd. J.P. Moulgine is at a speed of 4.2 knots in the Doldrums. With his sails often slatting back and forth, "In the meantime, my mainsail repair is slowly getting destroyed, which is making me crazy." J.P. says. When he gets out of the Doldrums and has a reasonable breeze it will be interesting to see if his sail holds up.
Next is the first of the 40 foot Class II entries, Wind of Change. Wind of Change is 330 miles back. Today Wind of Change will cross the equator.
Shuten Dojhi II is back to 4th place. Shuten lies 905 miles from 1st place. Recently Minoru Saito became concerned about a problem with his centerboard. So, Shuten Dojhi and No Barriers joined up for a mid ocean centerboard check. Neal Petersen reports on this: "We did some tight maneuvering, getting within 6 feet of each other. It was a true test of seamanship avoiding colliding. His center boad could not be seen. He thinks he lost it in a collision with a whale."
www.no-barriers.com is now in 5th place and is 928 miles back. Neal Petersen reports, on being overtake by Shuten Dojhi II, "He had a 1 knot speed advantage over me with his longer water line length."
Paladin 2 is 1055 miles back. Neil Hunter reports, "All’s well, no dramas. Got some steady SE trades at last. Nice to be moving along." This breeze has given him a boat speed of 7 knots.
Balance Bar is back racing and trails the lead boats by 1619 miles. Brad Van Liew is feeling better. He reports, "I now have over 1,000 miles on the mast and have re-tuned the rig and it looks good."
About 50 miles back of Balance Bar is unofficial competitor Robin Davie who says, "Talking of tramping, the winds have steadied up this evening, and SC is tramping along real good with a nice 9 to 10 knots on the log, occassionally we'll see a surge and surf up around 12 knots in the gusts."
What does it all mean ?
Mike Garside is back in command. In Class I Fila has lengthened it's lead. The lasting effect of the Doldrums will be changes in distance between the boats not in position.