The American skipper sounded tired and frustrated when contacted this morning;

“I have an eighteen foot swell, am making less than five knots and heading towards Port La Foret. This swell is knocking the bejaysus out of the boat at the moment.” Said Wilson.

Since then he had picked up some speed and has been averaging just over eight knots. He is looking foward  to a meal of scrambled  eggs,  bacon and sliced  potatoes  and a glass of  milk when he gets back to shore , where  his sisters  and friends  are  eagerly  waiting his arrival

Tide times are such that he would be unable to enter the channel until about 1330hrs in the afternoon. Having taken 43 days from Cape Horn, Wilson will be hugely relieved to get finished and has been dealt a very difficult set of cards by the weather, virtually since Cape Horn.

Raphael Dinelli is 530 miles NW of Cape Finisterre and has been averaging over 11 knots, some 500 miles west of Les Sables d’Olonne. The local Sablais skipper will be given a big welcome when he arrives, perhaps Thursday or more likely Friday.

And Norbert Sedlacek is the quickest of the trio still at sea, sailing at between ten and eleven knots. He is 120 miles past the Azores now and has 1380 miles to finish. Interest in his race has grown significantly in his native Austria as he will become the first Austrian skipper to sail solo non stop around the world.