ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is gaining miles at every position report, causing dark faces on the crews trying to catch them. The unstable wind has caused so many sail changes that the crews are now very tired.

At 1000 GMT this morning, ABN AMRO had 296 nautical miles to sail before crossing longitude 70E, passing the Kerguelen Islands and collecting 3.5 points. The second ice waypoint lies above latitude 42S, between longitude 69E and 77E and they will have to dip briefly across this line.

While the race continues for second place between Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse), movistar continues to race alone, 179 nautical miles to the north. ING Real Estate Brunel (Grant Wharington) is now on almost the same course as ABN AMRO ONE, but with very little wind and barely making 10 knots.

“On movistar we feel like a greyhound on the race track, who just can’t get the rabbit,” wrote skipper Bouwe Bekking early this morning.

The worry for the chasing pack now is whether they will be hit by a secondary low, spinning out from the decaying old front. This could cause havoc for them if they get hit with its 40 knot north or north easterly winds. Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO TWO are trying desperately to catch back up to the front and cross to south and east of the new low pressure system. These two teams are watching movistar, which is positioned on the north side of the secondary low, to see how they progress before they make the dive south.

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