Day 26, Wednesday October 21, 1998

The weather system of South Atlantic was formed by an unusual layout of two high pressures and a stalled front running from port Recife, Brazil in southeasterly direction right between those two highs. It would cause lighter winds for forerunners, which would not only slow them down, but also force them to sail more in a westerly direction then they would like. This was already becoming noticeable in their tracks.

Isabele Austissier

In Class I some shifting in positions had occurred. First, Isabelle and Hall lost 15 miles on Thiercelin. Golding gained on him two miles, which put him in third place bypassing Hall who dropped into fourth place. Soldini lost over 30 miles and Konioukhov dropped another 50 miles further back.

Giovanni Soldini

Autissier reported that her jury-rig repair was holding: "The repair seems okay but I have to be very careful when using the genoa and I cannot go to windward with it. I kept watch all night in the weather front. No other way to avoid it now. Boat-breaking weather: no wind and a huge swell. I can only wait until it passes." Later at 3 p.m. she added: "Violent weather. Not easy to navigate with sails reefed so far. The stay is loose but the mast is OK."

Golding's Team Group 4
In Class II Mouligne took back the lead. He was spending all his free time studying weather and trying make a decision on his next move for reaching Cape Town. After hard study he came to a conclusion: "In a way I am glad that the most sophisticated computer cannot predict the weather accurately. Intuition, experience and some luck is still what makes you win races." We can only wait patiently for what will happen next.

Mouligne © Foro Marek Slodownik

From Balance Bar came this message: "Winds are from the ESE at 15kts. The seas have a rolling swell left over from something but the chop on top is fairly light. My back is feeling a little better (still spending any spare time lying down), and my fourth attempt at a jury rig for the jib lead cars has held overnight and doesn't show any wear."

Robin Davie © Foto Billy Black

Robin Davie, who was in fourth place and leading the second part of Class II boats, has finally crossed the equator. It was his seventh equatorial crossing under sails including two previous BOC Challenge Races. Despite trouble with his water ballast system he is getting along easier with his new boat.

Further back, about 650 miles behind Jean-Pierre, Neal Petersen sent a message: "Not much wind and I have been doing 3 to 5 knots of boat speed in 8-13 knots of wind. I am fighting some kind of current and trying to go east to get away from the hump of Brazil. My speed through the water has been less than 3 knots. So going east has postponed my Equator crossing for tomorrow. I want to say it will be Friday, but as long as I can make easting, I want to keep going, otherwise its back to Brazil. I love Brazil and would some coffe, but not this voyage."
Stricker's Rapscallion © Foto Billy Black

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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