Vendée Globe

For Rich Wilson it is very much a case of two steps forward one and a half steps back today as he negotiates a very robust high pressure system dominating the North Atlantic.

The American skipper has endured days and days of difficult winds which have severely tested his patience and stamina, but while his ETA in Les Sables d’Olonne has slipped a couple of days since last week, and it seems like wherever he has sailed there have been road blocks and meteorological cul de sacs peppered with the odd, private cell of low pressure to give him strong winds, the end really should start to be in sight for Wilson.

Ironically, he is still 600 miles closer to his home in Boston , Mass. than he is to Les Sables d’Olonne, Vendée, but he seems to have no more than 150 miles or probably about 36 hours of pain, still to endure, stepping NW to get clear of the worst of the high. Then he should be able to head east in strong NW’ly and W’ly winds which finally will give him a direct and fairly quick route to the finish, but conditions will remain testing considering the limitations of his pilot system which will only steer to compass, and not wind.

Meantime his stats make painful reading, VMG this morning at 1000hrs UTC of just 0.5 knots over the last 24 hours, and a net gain of 10 miles towards the finish. Enough said.
Raphael Dinelli is buoyed by his good progress North on Fondation Océan Vital, making 103 miles in the last 24 hours, he is now just 243 miles behind Wilson and making 9.6 knots, while Norbert Sedlacek is quickest of the trio making 10.1 knots this morning almost due north on Nauticsport-Kapsch, en route to become the first Austrian skipper to complete the Vendée Globe.

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