Mike Golding (Ecover 3) is currently in 6th place, 62.4 miles from the leader and under 10 miles from Vincent Riou (PRB), the winner of the 2004-2005 race.  This morning, Ecover 3 was achieving the fastest speeds in the group of 9 frontrunners.  During his media call this morning, Mike analysed the current weather situation and the opportunities or dangers that lie ahead.

"Making good progress down the track.  Just having a lot of difficulty here in the south Atlantic trying to get round the high pressure system that is in front of us.  From a racing perspective it does not make any difference we are all having to do the same thing, which makes it a  bit of a drag race at the moment. It’s very tricky because looking ahead it looks like we are going to  contend with one high, which will dissipate and we will have to deal with  a second, so we have to sail all the way down South before we can turn and start making progress east to our first gate.
When we looked at the weather back in the Doldrums it was clear that  the St Helena high was not in it’s normal place, it’s placed to the  South and to the West of the South Atlantic, so there is no route to cut across above the high.  If you tried to that you will be sailing  upwind for days and you would get caught in very light airs. So we  have to sail with the high pressure system following its  circulation right the way round. It is the  quickest route even though it’s a long way from the straight line route. The prospects of a record are rapidly diminishing.
I am not really having a fight with  Générali.  The reality is it’s about your position down the course so in terms of Generali he may be ahead of me on the polls but the reality is that she is not ahead of me in terms of the track that  we have to take, so I am not too worried about that.  I only concentrate  on the leader and the boats around the leader.  It’s nice to see you are ahead on the polls, but it is not critical in terms of the longer gains.  
Looking at the latest weather file this morning and we have a very  complicated set of two high pressure systems that we have to transit, before we can really start making some easting towards the gate.  I could easily see the  race re starting about 3- 4 days ahead of us. It could work to our advantage or it  could work against us, so we will just have see.  One good thing in our favour is our positioning to the west, which gives me more choice on how I go round this high pressure system, The boats to the  east will slow as we get into the lighter stuff and that’s what I am hoping will allow me to pull forward."

You can see Mike Golding heading south in his latest video.  Just click on videos in the media section.

"Nothing has changed here! Still living at 20° angle, on a bumpy ride South.  Yesterday I attempted to fix the small diesel leaks, so we will see if it works or not. It's not the easiest job - under the cockpit, trying not to bump my head or back on the coffee grinder system, sliding around, as (due to oil then diesel) it is like an ice rink.... Trying to keep still enough to sand, clean then fill the joints.... I came out after my repair looking like a caveman (or woman)!

Yesterday morning I was treated to a cockpit that looked like a murder scene! An enormous flying fish had done a suicide attack (successful)and alongside that, I had missed a little when I had thrown the rest of my lasagna over the side!!! Luckily, now, we are in "washing machine mode" all of that has been quickly washed away by the buckets and buckets of (still warm) seawater that come cascading over the boat!"

Sam Davies (Roxy) in her early morning e-mail.

 

Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore) talked this morning about the painful decision he wasfinally forced to take:
"The sea really did its work on the rigging, which had already been damaged.  It would seem impossible to see her sailing again quickly and safely.  The hardest part was when I discovered the damage three days ago: being forced to retire in a contest where I was doing well  breaks my heart. The boat was sailing well and I was feeling great. I can assure you my boat was in perfect condition, and was well prepared, until this incident."  

 

As many of the skippers to the south of the Equator, Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) has been through some slamming seas over the past few days, which have given him some tiring conditions:

"Everything is fine on board.  I'm currently sailing at 16 knots and the wind is getting up again.  It was a rather tough day yesterday with 20-25 knot winds, so the pace was very fast. I had a lot of manoeuvres to do, which is physically demanding.  I got a good sleep and got back into third place during the night, which is good news.  There was quite a lot of wind early on, so I got a move on."

 

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) is in eleventh place 236 miles from the leader. Currently sailing at the latitude of Espirito Santo, he offers us a lesson in astronomy, as he admires the night sky:
 "During the night it was again crystal clear, and you could see the stars, low down to the horizon. Orion and the Pleiades were very clear to the East and to the South East were the 2 cloud like dwarf galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, some of my favourite objects in the sky. You need a very dark and clear night to see their subtle form, like bits of the Milky Way that have broken away and are floating on their own. They are named after Ferdinand Magellan who saw them on his own Round the World voyage starting 1519, but actually it was Al Sufi, the Persian astronomer who first mentioned the Large Cloud in 964. He had to travel south to 12N to the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, to see them over the horizon, and he named the cloud Al Bakr, the White Ox. So on Bahrain Team Pindar, it’s Al Bakr from now on..."

 

As reported last night, Dee Caffari (Aviva) lost one of her mainsheet blocks yesterday, but managed to replace it.  Here in her night message she explains how she soon got over it:
"Just as I was feeling sorry for myself, wondering if I could take this pace and non-stop pressure for the rest of the course, my phone rang. I was surprised to hear Jonny's voice from Artemis. It was great to catch up and I was really pleased to speak to him. He told me about his doldrums and how yesterday he spent fixing things, I told him about my mainsail and having to hoist it again and we sympathised with each other. It was great therapy and we both agreed to stay in touch more often. I need to get a glimpse of his beard, he has yet to shave and I hope he goes the whole race without any razor action, as it will be a great sight.  Just like buses, there are either none or two come at once, and the next call was from Brian on Pindar Kingdom of Bahrain. He was sounding cool as a cucumber and I asked if he was still at supersonic speed and he told me no, just semi sonic speed. So he is human after all! We both commented on the intensity of the racing. It is impressive to say the least. It was great to feel the British spirit and we decided that we would all support each other more often, like group therapy on the iridium."