News

Crews made just over 1000nm towards the finish on day 47 – which represents a slight decline on previous day’s, party due to the low winds currently passing over the fleet – though the fleet haven’t been hampered as much as expected. All crews north of 18 degrees were able to make progress, including the solos of James Ketchell and Sean McGowan who continue to do fantastically well.

Roger Haines describes yet another near miss at sea, this time with an ocean buoy rather than a cargo ship. Elsewhere, Paul Milnthorpe and Jim Houlton on The Reason Why describe how they have noticed a large rise in the volume of saliva while resting however, they have since put that rise down to their beards rather than a change in the body’s physiology – see their most recent blog for confirmation.

Charlie Marlow and Matthew Mackaness gave an honest appraisal of the dehydrated food on board suggesting that “while a lot of the food tastes the same, it’s not going to kill you.” At the end of the day the food is there as a source of energy for survival, the taste is in some ways inconsequential. However, in enjoying their favourite apple and custard dessert they did notice that apple does not feature in the list of ingredients – intriguing if nothing else…

The forecast continues to suggest that the crews to the north are going to have less favourable conditions, though, as with the last few days they should still be able to make progress towards Antigua.

Family and friends of the leading crews will soon be descending upon Antigua (see the article in the section for details and contacts) as the race draws to a close for the leading crews. Soon will be a time for reuniting and embracing after a long time away from loved ones.