ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) is back in the leading spot once again as all boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, except ABN AMRO TWO, which is still 19 nautical miles to the south of the line, have satisfied the first of the two ice gates. The ice gates are not scoring gates. The only scoring gate on this leg will be at Cape Horn, approximately 2,199 nautical miles south east of ABN AMRO ONE.

After days of dilemma, waiting to see if the northerly choice of course taken by Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) would be one that would pay off, the question was finally answered today as the breeze freed the boats in the south and they were able to sail quickly towards the latitude they had to cross.

The next ice waypoint is set between 130 degrees west and 125 degrees west, approximately 500 nautical miles to the east of the fleet. Juan Vila, weather consultant for Ericsson Racing Team, expects to see the fleet to stay north just long enough to catch the western end of the second gate before diving back into the stronger winds to the south. Each boat in the fleet has to be above 48 degrees south at some point between the longitudes of each of these gates.

“It has been tough to go north when our optimum goal is to get to Cape Horn,” said Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. “We were all believers in the ice gates, we all wanted them to keep these new rocket ships away from the icebergs. Even though it has been tough to go north to go round them [the ice gates], it’s a lot better than bumping into an iceberg.”

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