Cape Leeuwin tomorrow

Banque Populaire eases north to avoid ice and a severe depression looming

Chart above courtesy of Expedition/Tasman Bay Navigation Systems and PredictWind

Banque Populaire continues to march on, perpetually adding miles to her already enormous lead over Jules Verne Trophy record holder Groupama 3's pace. At the latest sched, she is now 2,181 miles ahead, or three to four days, having been at sea for almost 17 days.

As expected, the 40m maxi-tri has shifted north, converging with Groupama 3's track in anticipation of the depression to her south moving northeast over the course of tonight (UTC). The next of the 'great capes' to pass is Cape Leeuwin, SW Australia and on her present course the longitude of the Cape is 680 miles away, or just over a day's sailing.

Yesterday morning crewman Fréd Le Peutrec gave a snapshot of what was going on on board: "We have good conditions, all is well! For once, for the first time since our entry into the Southern Ocean, we are enjoying a beautiful sunny day with a light wind, but properly established. We are under full mainsail and gennaker, on starboard tack, and we are currently heading southeast. We do the miles that are cheap! Up to Kerguelen we were on a direct course. Since then the wind has been in the west and we are downwind, so we have to gybe sailing at 140° to the wind. There is 18 knots of wind and we are still making 25-30 knots. It's not very fast. Below 30 knots it doesn't really register for anyone on board..."

Aside from the outset of the depression, there remains the ever-present threat of ice. "200 miles to our east there an area where there is a lot of ice. This limits our routing so we remain north," confirmed le Peutrec.

Looking ahead in the forecast, at present there don't seem any major hurdles coming up. It is safe to stay that to date the crew of the 40m maxi-tri have been exceedingly lucky with the conditions. But don't stop crossing your fingers.