Rhythm of the Race Double digits the norm throughout the fleet.

Standings table 

Top 3

1.  PRB 8:5 North 31:3 West
2.  Kingfisher 7:1 North 31:0 West + 77 miles 
3.  Active Wear  1:4 North 28 West +362 miles
 
Fleet round up section

A good day for leader PRB.  Michel Desjoyeaux has 2750 miles to go.  His lead on 2nd place Kingfisher is 77 miles.  This is 29 greater than yesterday.  Better yet he's the fastest in the fleet at 11.4 knots.

Kingfisher is almost directly behind PRB. For now not many tactical options for Kingfisher, but to sail faster.

The  next pair is led by Active Wear which lost 132 miles to PRB in 24 hours.  4th place Sill is 26 miles back.  However, Sill is 6° more to the west than Active Wear.  This split means one of the two could get advantages the other won't.

UBP leads Sobedo by 115 miles.  There's only .1 knots difference in speed so the gap may stay the same.

Group 4 and Gartmore are another pair of boats with routing differences.  Group 4 is 4° more to the west and also faster.  Again this could be a situation where it eventually becomes one sided due to different course choices.

Skipper Communications

 Josh Hall EBP-Gartmore ". I anticipate the wind going north pretty soon so we will both be upwind for a while...I hope to make some gains then!...I hope we can have some luck with the weather for the last section of the south Atlantic and reach Les Sables by February 23 to beat the 96-97 record for the event.....that is a real target for me."

Dominique Wavre UBP "When you sail in a crew, your mood has less importance. If you are not feeling well, somebody else will take on your job, but when you are alone, you live stronger experiences and bigger changes of mood. It’s a much deeper experience to sail single handed."

Roland Jourdain Sill ". The passage through the calms has been relatively uneventful for me compared to Mich & Ellen. But now we’ll have to see compared to Marc how it looks. I think I’ve gained ground between the entrance and exit of the Doldrums...PRB & Kingfisher are two very strong boats upwind, I can’t hope for too much on that front."

Current Weather North of the equator fast trade wind sailing.

Weather Forecast A few more days before likely dealing with more high pressure.

What does it all mean

As the finish line nears the window for tactical brilliance narrows.  You can't tell when your last chance to pass might be.