The choice of sails selected for this leg is proving critical. The front which gave the fleet strong winds in Bass Strait is moving quicker than the boats and the fleet is now slowly starting to fall off the back. Every ounce of boat speed is important because the boat that can ride the front for the longest, will be the one which will stretch away from the boats that fall off the system first.

“We are doing everything we can to hold onto this band of breeze for as long as possible,” said Marcel Van Triest, Dutch navigator onboard Torben Grael’s Brasil 1. “Right now it is about who has what sail inventory and what kind of sails have been brought onboard. We were surprised to see some of the boats using a furling jib at the start. We didn’t bring ours, thinking it would not have enough use in between Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro. Right now, it is maybe a sail that we are missing at times, but such is life. It is very a short sprint across the Tasman and whoever has exactly the right sail for this angle in the south westerly breeze might have a little edge on the other boats.” Skipper Torben Grael is nursing a damaged hand, which has been strapped up by the onboard medic, Joao Signorini. He was at the helm when the boat was hit by a big wave and got knocked sideways.

ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) appears to have exactly the right sail for the wind angle. The black boat is pulling away from the fleet at rate which will be alarming the chasing pack, gaining more and more with every position schedule. This morning at 1000 they had overtaken movistar (Bouwe Bekking) and were five miles ahead. By 1600 this afternoon, they were 17 miles ahead, and tonight movistar had lost another four miles and the Dutch boat is now 21 miles ahead.

Neal McDonald and the team onboard Ericsson had their heads in their hands earlier today as they watched Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) sail easily away from them. “Never give up” is the motto onboard, but this team has had a nasty 24 hours and now they are 70 miles behind the leader, sailing consistently slower and losing 17 miles to the leader in the last six hours. “We have to tough it out and make sure any opportunities to get back at the leaders do not escape our clutches. They guys are giving it their all despite the situation,” McDonald concluded.

There is high pressure filling in from the west across the Australian Bight which will give lighter winds towards the end of the leg and there is a reasonable chance of the race restarting just before the finish, making for some nervous hours on Wednesday.

Race meteorologist, Chris Bedford says, “As things progress today, it is looking like the wind will improve for the southerly boats as they finally extend far enough away from Tasmania to escape its lingering influence. In addition the wind will generally fill from the SW, reaching the trailing boats first. From tonight through tomorrow, wind speeds will be slightly stronger on the boats with the more southerly leverage.

At the moment, though, it doesn’t quite look like the improving conditions for Ericsson, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) and Pirates of the Caribbean will be enough to overcome the jump gained by movistar and ABN AMRO ONE coming out of Bass Strait. I would expect the two favourites to continue their advantage as winds slowly build with time going toward Cook Strait.”

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