Today's Sailing News 

The Race: # 2 around the Horn

Innovation Explorer has become the 2nd Race Class cat to round
Cape Horn and make the turn north for the finish. Their rounding took place
in winds of over 40 knots. They sailed quite close to the famous landmark, having no problems seeing it.

However, this rounding brought them no closer to 1st place. They
trail Club Med by 968 miles. Yesterday, Club Med gained 123 miles while sailing 544 miles in 24 hours. Club Med was the only boat to top 500
miles.

Speeds and optimism are high on Club Med. Grant Dalton is 
engaging in some long term thinking: "But if we slip through before the gate closes we may well be through with this part of the world and on course for a finish in Marseilles pretty early, the beginning of March. But there is a big if, and as the weather forecasts for this part of the world are notoriously unreliable it could all change again pretty quickly." 

Sailing conditions are close to ideal. Dalton reports: "We are sailing with two reefs and a staysail set in 30 knots of wind. The angle is
about 100 degrees so it is fast. It is pretty bumpy so we have opened up the angle a bit to speed her up and make it smoother."

With the good news from the lead boats in the Pacific, there is
some disheartening news from Team Adventure in the Tasman Sea. They made  only 238 miles.

Before they can hit the Pacific Ocean and perhaps record
conditions they wills stop for at least 60 hours in Wellington.

Cam Lewis gives these details on Team Adventure's second 
repair stop: "The plan here is to push on to Wellington hoping to arrive sometime late on Tuesday. We will start immediately on the repair. My friend Eric Goetz from Bristol, Rhode Island, and Goetz Custom Boats, has made a great offer and is sending two of his top men to Wellington to do the job."

Warta Polpharma and Team Legato have no plans of stopping. Warta
leads by 872 miles. Team Legato has a 164 mile advantage in the last 24 hours, though.

Team Legato skipper Tony Bullimore is focused on gaining even more distance saying, "Over the past 24 hours, we have reeled back a welcome 135 miles on Warta Polpharma. We were hoping to match race with them through Cook Strait but this is probably not going to happen. Instead, the battle is more likely to take place in the Pacific."

While the fleet's tail end thinks Pacific, Club Med thinks Atlantic. Club Med's lead is secure, one might imagine they are sailing with an
eye to the record books.

Today marks the return of Sailing Daily's Times Clipper Update. The 8 boat fleet has left Hawaii for to sail west across the Pacific, off one side of the map and to the finish on the maps other side in Yokohama Japan. 

The leg will see some trade winds sailing to begin with. Then a crossing of the International date line. This will switch the longitude  line on their GPS displays to east.

The distance for this leg is 3750 miles. As a reference point  the outright record for this route is held by Steve Fossett sailing a
60 foot trimaran. His time 16 days an average of 11.29 knots. The fleet of Clipper mono hulls is expected to arrive in around 20 days or so.

Today's Fleet Update:

Leader: Glasgow Clipper by 2 miles

Best 24 Hour Run: Leeds Clipper 202 miles 

Position: Fleet spread from 17 to 22 degrees north latitude. Leeds at
21° claimed best mileage.

Current Weather: Heavy following winds

Weather Forecast: Who will lose wind first north or south?

Head to the Sailing Daily Forum and discuss sailing!

Today's Vendee Globe Report 

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 Today's Sailing News 

Cam Gram Quote

Team Adventure skipper Cam Lewis is not just a world class sailor 
he's also one of the best sailing writers around. He's writes daily reports/Cam-Grams from his Race Class cat. Here's an excerpt from today's: "This is not the race we wanted. We all are serious racers and enjoyed the thrills of the battles from the start until we had to detour to Cape Town. To sail to the finish with the same enthusiasm as when we started will not be possible, however we will continue to learn about the boat, to fine tune the systems, sails and weather routing, and to continue to test products from our sponsors and suppliers. The is still a chance for a go at the 24 hour speed record. It will require special conditions and we will look for them. We will push on down the road as soon as we have the boat repaired."

Vendee Globe: Strong to the End

The unpredictable intensity of the Vendee Globe continues even
though the winner has been determined. This week from 1300 Saturday
to 1300 Sunday, Roland Jourdain sailed Sill to a new 24 hour sailing record
in the solo mono hull category. His distance 435.3 miles, an average
speed of 18.14 knots.

Jourdain will finish today. He will win the 3rd and final spot on the Vendee Globe podium. This means that the podium spots will be taken by sailors who were in their first solo around the world race.