Vendée Globe

Struggling at times to make ten knots in a fading breeze when Michel Desjoyeaux departed the so called Roaring Forties last night they were more of a gentle whisper, coaxing him and his eternal companion Roland Jourdain steadily northwards on their ascent of the South Atlantic, some 750 miles to the east of the River Plate estuary.

At 176.4 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain this morning, Desjoyeaux was level with Uruguay, urging Foncia across a sticky high pressure system which was generating light south westerly breezes for the leading skipper and his nearest pursuer. The benign conditions have been kind to Jourdain who reported cracking to his mast bulkhead and keel box after hitting a sea mammal Thursday night.

Some 550 miles further south, down the Atlantic, from Jourdain’s Veolia Environnment,  Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) is still in a strong, contrary NW’ly winds and so has made negligible gains on the leaders overnight.

Best overnight has been Sam Davies, GBR, (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot (Safran) who are on their final stage to Cape Horn. Davies had 390 miles to go to the fabled landmark at 0400hrs GMT this morning and was not finding life easy. As well as dealing with awkward, malicious squalls of over 45 knots at times and a difficult sea-state which the British skipper described yesterday as ‘potentially boat breaking’, she is preparing on a safety first strategy not only constrained by the threatening weather, but the prospect of ice to their south which is creating a relatively narrow channel.

Dee Caffari (Aviva) has had a steady night, earning about eight miles on her French rival Arnaud Boissières since they passed through the SW Pacific gate yesterday morning

After being stuck in the calms associated with a high-presure area, Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) has picked up speed, as he is now sailing on the edge of a front, but still has 1100 miles to go to reach the final gate. White will be working hard to regain some of the 350 miles that he lost on Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissières while he was trapped in the anticyclone.

Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport- Kapsch) is now around 150 miles ahead of Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital) and is due to cross the Antimeridian – the International Date Line later today.

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