Miles versus wind speed

Close battles, as the Open 60 singlehanders in the Defi Atlantique work out how to tackle an impending high pressure system

Positions at 0500GMT

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Latitude	Longitude	DTF	DTL
1	Mike GOLDING	Ecover	N182392	W0281300	2178.3	0
2	Vincent RIOU	PRB	N184108	W0285376	2182.2	3.9
3	Sébastien JOSSE	VMI	N173899	W0281000	2216.6	38.3
4	Jean Pierre DICK	Virbac	N182180	W0305980	2259.6	81.3
5	Nick MOLONEY	Team Cowes	N170340	W0284284	2262.7	84.4
6	Benoît LEQUIN	Wel.network	N144652	W0291596	2398.8	220.5
7	Alex THOMSON	AT Racing	N174400	W0343399	2402.5	224.2
8	Joe SEETEN	Arcelor Dunkerque	N145176	W0305220	2437.7	259.4
9	Benoît PARNAUDEAU	Colibri - Charente-Maritime	N123240	W0322780	2604.5	426.2
10	Anne LIARDET	Gonna-Gitcha	N114068	W0331032	2669.8	491.5

Mike Golding and Vincent Riou remain locked in battle among the singlehanded Open 60 sailors at the front of the Defi Atlantique fleet, currently speeding north past the Cape Verde islands. Over the last 24 hours Ecover and PRB have swapped sides of the course with the French boat now to the west.

“I have just constantly been changing sails," commented Golding in an email. "I also discovered that a ballast tank had filled, which meant I was carrying an additional 2.5 tonnes of water. That won’t have helped! I’ve been romping along into a lumpy sea and have been feeling a bit nervous using my Code 5 in these conditions. I definitely took the safe route, whereas I don’t think PRB have.”

At present the forecast charts are showing a large area of high pressure up ahead currently positions ESE of Gibraltar and about 900 mile ahead of where the boats currently area. There is also a depression directly to the west so while the boats to the east are sailing in easterly or southeasterly breeze, those to the west should be in southerly or southwesterlies and be in considerably more pressure. However Alex Thomson's comments from on board yesterday incidate that this is not the case.

Thomson seems to carrying out an Yves Parlier-style flier at the moment and yesterday gybed west, to get more into the depression. At 0800 this morning he gybed back and is now sailing in 35-40 knot winds and making around 20 knots. He has lost sixth place and all contact with Virbac in the process but it seems highly likely that he will regain his place in the next scheds. His progress over the next couple of days wil be interesting to watch as while those to the east are involved with negotiating the high, Thomson could be streaming up the west side of the high in favourable winds.

From on board fifth placed Team Cowes Nick Moloney called in yesterday afternoon: "This morning I was just laying here resting and got up to have a look around and saw a tanker about two miles away coming straight at me. I watched him for a bit to see if he altered his course course but he didn't so called him up and then he altered course. I asked if he had seen me and he said he had but I'm not convinced!

"I'm now in fourth about 17 miles behind Jo-Jo ( VMI) and maybe I will get to see him later. Still on the wind at the moment and making a course to Cape Finisterre which is our next waypoint really. We should have some reaching conditions coming and looking at being a bit quicker this afternoon, hopefully. We will see the effect of this low with more of an easterly breeze from the rotation of the low which still leaves us on starboard tack and reaching. Possibility of 25-30 knots but nothing major.

"We have about 5-10 knots wind speed - not flash and been like this for whole day. Long as we all have the same conditions, I'm not stressed but if someone has more that's when it gets hard mentally. Really impressed that Ecover and PRB have sailed 30 miles west-east and held distance at the same time - that's really impressive. I think reaching PRB is one of the fastest boats and I wouldn't be surprised if Vincent can take something out of Ecover.

"If the depression moves north we will continue to have an easterly gradient which, potentially, could carry us the whole way to Finisterre but would need to be fast to hang on to it and whether we can do that in solo format, we will have to wait and see. On our own you can't put everything up to be as fast as you might be with two of you on board. Can't really use the big spinnaker in anything over 15 knots - it's a real handful and you could quickly find yourself in big trouble. I will be more cautious and come one down to the smaller spinnaker if I have too. Also, the masthead halyard is a bit marginal as it is and, again, with two on board you know you could deal with the problem but solo is another issue. It is all good experience to learn the process of what the right tools are, what right the sails are that you can handle on your own to stay out of trouble.

"We're all learning so much in this race - even right from the very begining me and Jo-Jo were guaging each other's progress the whole time, you learn what's fast and it's pretty rare to have us all out here together."

Alex Thomson was brief on the phone yesterday afternoon as his energies and priorities lay in keeping the boat moving. “Last night I had less than 4 knots of wind and for 4 hours I averaged 1.5 knots boat speed. I’ve been hand-steering all night as the pilot can’t do it when there’s hardly any wind registering on the anemometer. This morning at about 5am the breeze filled in to 8-12 knots from the northwest so I changed from Code 0 to Solent.

Then it swung to the west, then west of south, so I changed from Solent to gennaker. The breeze stayed at 12 knots, I was making 10 knots boatspeed, and then shifted to the SW so I changed to the spinnaker. Then it shifted round to the NW again and I changed to Solent. And then around 11am today the wind died completely - zero. It’s like standing at the dock and waving someone goodbye, Ecover’s off, and I’m sitting in no wind! Virbac’s heading over to the east now as well.

"So I cooked myself some poached eggs and bacon and have been trying to get the boat moving since with full mainsail and Code 0 up. If I can get more North into a band of SW wind which will allow me to sail deeper it might save me later on in the race… I’m okay, attitude-wise, just more frustration than anything else right now, so I am going to get rid of it up on deck with a gybe as I think the wind is just beginning to swing round to the SE...”