Day 29, Saturday October 24, 1998

Autissier and Mouligne finally established themselves as the each class' leader again. JP did it very decisively. Day ago he was 12 miles back and then he went 23 miles ahead. That is definitively good jump forward.

Isabelle described her takeover in her message: "It feels great to see my little boat's name at the top of the list again, though I'm sincerely sorry that a mishap should have cost Marc the lead position he held so brilliantly. Alas, I know all too well that this is part of the game. We're back to getting plenty of wind, and the weather situation is becoming clearer. The high-pressure front won't affect us much. Now the name of the game is to dive to get below the high, which will be at about 35 degrees south latitude in two or three days. This will probably mean a detour at around 36 or 37 degrees south, which won't make this leg any shorter! Today's good wind will help us do that; it's been a while since we've seen double-digit wind speeds. It is starting to get chilly at night, but the days are getting longer. I see that the 'Newport gang' is doing well, and that Jean-Pierre has retaken the lead among the 50-footers. Good for him!"

© Foto Richard Konkolski

The rest of her class quietly watched the change in leaders. In truth, nobody sent any e-mail.

New Class II leader Jean Pierre was of course very busy. "Please excuse the brief note today but I have a busy morning ahead of me." he wrote, "The good news is that I have regained the lead and I can assure you that I will fight like hell to keep it all the way to Cape Town. I had a fast night but this morning as I was doing my usual day light check up I noticed that another batten had come out wearing through its pocket and was sticking out. To wait can only make the situation worse so I took the main down and have to fix it right away. It is windy and bouncy this morning and I am still moving at 9.5 knots under staysail alone. I have to work fast to stay ahead."
Mouligne © Foto Marek Slodownik

His closest rivals accepted his leadership quietly. Only Robin Davie, more than 600 miles behind reported: "I am 260 miles east of Salvador Brazil and I sailed 205 miles sailed in last 24 hours. It is nice to see the daily log climb over 200 miles for the day. At long last the trade winds have backed a point or so into a more easterly direction, and they picked up a few knots overnight, so all this helped to push our speed up a bit. We are still on a southerly heading, and watching the boys ahead on Cray, Balance and Magellan taking a more eastsoutheasterly heading, and seeing them clock up 200 to 240 mile days, so the gap between me and them continues to widen."

He also described an unusual experience with flying fish: "And finally talking of fish, I was standing in the cockpit yesterday late afternoon when I noticed this very large movement of a flying fish which, as I focussed on it, was by far the largest flying fish I have ever seen. If I didn't know better I would have sworn it was a king mackerel with wings and if I had had the video camera in my hand at that moment then it wouldn't have been the one that got away."

Robin Davie © Foto Billy Black

Neal Petersen trailing more than 200 miles behind finally joined the part of the fleet sailing in Southern Hemisphere, where most of this race is going to be sailed.

© Foto Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
Return back to First Leg