Please consult The Around Alone Report Users Guide for an explanation of this report.
Class I continues to tighten up. In Class II the leaders have taken divergent courses.
Fleet Round Up:
Fila's lead has dropped to 255 miles. Reported winds in Fila's area are east @ 9 knots. These light winds have slowed Fila to 6.6 knots. Soldini simply must wait out the light air before finishing later this week in Charleston.
Somewhere has closed in. Currently Marc Thiercelin has almost double the boat speed of Fila showing 12.3 knots best in the fleet. Thiercelin's deficit is still pretty large and as the miles to the finish options diminish. Still, Thiercelin sails on in hope of a late victory.
Magellan Alpha leads Class II by 221 miles. With a 2.6 knot speed advantage Garside's lead looks secure.
Cray Valley is 2nd. J.P. Mouligne thinks victory is still possible: "With 1500 miles to go and trailing Magellan by more than 200 miles, I will have a very hard time catching him, but I have nothing to lose at this point and will try every possibility I have." Additionally J.P. hopes to have his gennaker repaired. This will aid his charge.
Next is the first of the 40 foot Class II entries, Wind of Change. Wind of Change is 700 miles back.
Shuten Dojhi II shows in 4th place again. This by a margin of 17 miles.
www.no-barriers.com is back to 5th place. With the reaching conditons Neal says, "We are reaching and there is nothing I can do with my 10-foot shorter vessel to hang on to him." Still many miles remain for Neal to catch up.
Paladin 2 is 1725 miles back.
Balance Bar is back racing and trails the lead boats by 1926 miles. Sailing at a speed of 4.2 knots Balance Bar is transiting the Doldrums.
What does it all mean ?
Althouhg Somewhere is catching Fila the finish line is nearing. This lessens the tactical leverage that can be gained and makes Fila still in a safe position.