© Photo Richard Konkolski
© Photo Richard Konkolski
Soldini established himself in steady northeast trade winds and was speeding towards the finish line with average speed of 12.4 knots. Marc Thiercelin was just above 2 north. He managed to get himself out of the Doldrums, but still hasn’t reached strong enough wind. His average speed rose up to 9,4 knots, but was still 3 knots slower than the Soldini, who was already leading by 361.5 miles.
According to the forecast the Doldrums could expand outward from 6S to 4N and all the way from 30-50W." That was bad news for the entire Class II fleet including Garside and Mouligne.
Garside's Magellan Alpha
While Mouligne was struggling over 200 miles behind Garside just two days ago, today he closed Garside’s lead to within 61 miles. Within a day or so the trade winds should slacken, dropping into the 10 to 14 knots and everybody could finally see the distance between the Class I and Class II boats stretch to a more normal distance.
Garside was definitively not happy about the situation. In his email he wrote: "My 200-mile lead is now down to under 100 and the boy (J.P.) is still closing. The only two good bits of fortune I'm having are that I have been able to get west enough (the only way the wind would let me go!) so that at least I have now put myself between J.P. and the finishing line. The second is that the wind has now backed in the last hour so that, instead of heading back to Brazil on a course of 245, I am on the same 310-degree course as J.P. and pointing at Charleston."
J.P. Mouligne © Photo Billy Black
Mouligne’s report was much more optimistic: "This has been a incredible weekend. On Friday my deficit on Magellan had stretched to over 230 miles and this morning (Monday) it had shrunk back to 68 miles! We are engaged in a battle of slowness, with shifty winds mixed with flat calms and squalls. This is the worst part of the trip but also for me the chance to come back."
The winds continued to be light and variable for the boats behind Garside and Mouligne. Victor Yazykov was 276 miles behind Garside, but 671 miles in front of the next boat. Neal Petersen, Minoru Saito, Neil Hunter, and Brad Van Liew followed Yazykov.
© Photo Richard Konkolski
| Place | Skipper | Boat | Latitude | Longitude | Dist. to go | Speed | Dist. to first | Time |
| 1 | Soldini | Fila | 06 31N | 045 56W | 2466 | 12.4 | 0 | 2140 |
| 2 | Thiercelin | Somewhere | 02 04N | 041 51W | 2827 | 9.4 | 361.5 | 2140 |
| Place | Skipper | Boat | Latitude | Longitude | Dist. to go | Speed | Dist. to first | Time |
| 1 | Garside | Magellan Alpha | 00 14S | 040 26W | 2986 | 4.8 | 0 | 2144 |
| 2 | Mouligne | Cray Valley | 01 09S | 039 54W | 3047 | 5.4 | 61.4 | 2144 |
| 3 | Yazykov | Wind of Change | 03 12S | 036 54W | 3262 | 6.8 | 276 | 2144 |
| 4 | Petersen | No Barriers | 12 20S | 035 11W | 3933 | 6.4 | 947.1 | 2144 |
| 5 | Saito | Shuten-dohji II | 12 35S | 035 15W | 3948 | 7.4 | 962.9 | 2144 |
| 6 | Hunter | Paladin II | 14 29S | 034 58W | 4051 | 5.4 | 1065.9 | 2144 |
| 7 | Van Liew | Balance Bar | 24 15S | 040 54W | 4718 | 8.2 | 1732.1 | 2144 |
Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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