Vendee Globe - 1230 - 23/2/01

This morning, the high has continued to go west, and the northerly breeze is reaching down towards the next two in line for a finish - Mike Golding (dark blue) and Josh Hall (purple). But it isn't there yet, and they've had a desperate 24 hours. Golding is just 81 miles closer to the finish this morning, Hall has done a little better and almost managed a 200 mile day, briefly boosted by that little depression to his west perhaps.

Hall described his circumstances to the Race Office this morning, "There is a depression to the east, another to our west and we are stuck in the high pressure ridge between them!! I believe the depression in the west will eventually control us as it should head towards the Biscay.

"However, when it does we may well be north of it and have strong headwinds which would be about right considering our fortune with the weather the last four weeks!! Certainly progress will be slow and difficult for the next two days."

The forecast for Saturday afternoon (right) shows the northerly from the high pressure filling in for them at a reasonable strength, and they will be close to laying a course to Les Sables.

In the Bay of Biscay things look sketchier, those isobars are far from tightly packed, and there's plenty of weirdness left in the wind to make life tough for these two.

Map images courtesy of Virtual Spectator, click here to go to the VS site.

Please note that two different methods of calculating the Distance to Finish are being used, one by Virtual Spectator and one by the Vendee Globe Race Office, we will try to always make it clear which we are using!

Link to the madforsailing form guide.

Rankings (0600 GMT except where stated, Friday 23/2/01, with Distances to Finish from Race Office)