29 January 2001
 

Rhythm of the Race At the front as close as it was at the start months ago.

Standings table 

Top 3

1.  Kingfisher 1 North 27 West
2.  PRB  1.1 North 28 West + 5 miles 
3.  Active Wear  3 South 27 West +291 miles
 
Fleet round up section

Today has brought the Vendee Globe fleet a new leader.  After trailing by 640 miles at Cape Horn, Kingfisher has now taken the lead!  It's a scant lead at 5 miles, but a remarkable achievement none the less.

Both are still sailing in the Doldrums.  PRB now in 2nd has a small speed advantage 5.2 to 4.4 knots for new leader Kingfisher

3rd place Active Wear has been a beneficiary of the leaders being in the Doldrums. According to Ellen Macarthur, "It all depends how far we have to go to get out of this, this is the hardest sailing of the race I think. We only made 65 miles north in the last 24 hours."   Marc Thiercelin is now 291 miles back, a gain of 252 miles in 24 hours!  He leads Sill by 70 miles.

UBP now has a 214 mile lead over Sobedo.   UBP has consistently had the better of this pairing.

EBP-Gartmore has regained a lead over Group 4.  Josh Hall is 45 miles ahead.

Skipper Communications

Mike Golding Group 4 "I’m moving well now and hope that the massive gain Josh has made was only temporary...Ellen is an amazing worker, she may not be doing anything tactically amazing but she does the grinding and many others would have great difficulty in tackling that kind of commitment....I’ve got a good NE and am making the best of it. I’m going to push to the East to try and prevent the situation which happened to Jourdain near the coastline."

Josh Hall EBP-Gartmore "the speed never dropped below 20 kts and we were on course as well....a real joy after the frustrations of the past 10 days!"

Ellen Macarthur Kingfisher "I’m really tired, the wind has shifted every 20 minutes and so I’ve had no sleep...I’m happy about the rankings but I can’t show it when I’m totally exhausted. I’m watching out for the others behind. I’m doing the best I can...we’re in the throes of a real race, where I could gain 20 miles in 2 hours with 10 knots."

Roland Jourdain Sill "With the upwind conditions ahead, those two boats will love that weather. They are the best two boats upwind and they’ll be fighting it out nail and tooth. My objective is to pass to the West so I slow down the least in the Doldrums. Marc anticipated this and is in the East to get to windward of me."

Marc Thiercelin Active Wear "Jourdain holds a better trump card being more to the West but I’m drawing on my past circumnavigations and saw Hervé Laurent pass in the East. I prefer to be to windward of the fleet."

Current Weather Worst, most inconsistent breezes for the top 2.

Weather Forecast Obviously open to interpretation as Sill goes West and Active Wear east.

What does it all mean

The fight for the lead continues.  Until one of the boats is sailing in established wind, no lead is solid.