Cape Horn congestion

Renault due to round Cape Horn tonight in the Barcelona World Race

Monday March 7th 2011, Author: James Boyd, Location: none selected

 

 

Pos Crew Boat Lat Long Spd Crs VMG Dist DTF DTL
          1 hour av   24 hours      
1 Jean Pierre Dick - Loick Peyron VIRBAC-PAPREC 3 44 49.96' S 30 37.81' W 12.2 51 12.3 295.1 5563.9 0
2 Iker Martinez - Xabi Fernandez MAPFRE 47 06.84' S 37 52.73' W 18.1 72 12.7 305.8 5806.7 242.8
3 Pachi Rivero - Antonio Piris RENAULT Z.E Sailing Team 56 11.49' S 71 57.16' W 17.9 92 17.9 429.3 7038.6 1474.7
4 Boris Herrmann - Ryan Breymaier NEUTROGENA FORMULA NORUEGA 55 27.20' S 77 37.17' W 17.7 98 15.2 365.4 7232.1 1668.2
5 Kito de Pavant - Sebastien Audigane GROUPE BEL 55 04.59' S 81 09.00' W 20 105 16 383.1 7354.8 1790.9
6 Dominique Wavre - Michele Paret MIRABAUD 55 03.75' S 84 18.83' W 15.6 95 12.9 310.2 7461.2 1897.3
7 Alex Pella - Pepe Ribes ESTRELLA DAMM Sailing Team 55 35.48' S 86 23.55' W 16.8 88 14.7 352.1 7524.6 1960.7
8 Wouter Verbraak - Andy Meiklejohn HUGO BOSS 53 53.68' S 100 11.13' W 14.3 40 12.7 304.9 8011.8 2447.8
9 Dee Caffari - Anna Corbella GAES CENTROS AUDITIVOS 50 56.09' S 106 30.59' W 12.8 115 13.9 333.4 8295 2731.1
10 Gerard Marin - Ludovic Aglaor FORUM MARITIM CATALA 49 58.16' S 153 16.26' W 13 82 15.3 373.7 10145.6 4581.7
11 Juan Merediz - Fran Palacio CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA 41 17.43' S 174 47.12' E 0 239 0   11550.3 5986.4
12 Jaume Mumbru - Cali Sanmarti WE ARE WATER 41 20.05' S 174 32.58' E 2.9 143 1.8 43.3 11558.5 5994.5
ABD Michel Desjoyeaux - Francois Gabart FONCIA                
ABD Jean le Cam - Bruno Garcia PRESIDENT                

After they stopped to repair their halyards after rounding Cape Horn on Friday, resulting in their deficit on the Barcelona World Race leader increasing to 270 miles by yesterday afternoon, so Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez on Mapfre have been attempting to reel back in Virbac Paprec 3.

Interestingly despite an area of high pressure being located right in their path, centred some 1100 miles east of the River Plate (between Uruguay and Argentina) both the race leaders have opted to sail the extra miles and round the static high on its east side, the advantage being that this allows them to continue in favourable following winds. Already Virbac Paprec 3 is approaching the high - hence why her speed is down - and this should allow Mapfre to continue to make short term gains over the course of today. This easting is also good further up the race track as it will enable the leaders to sail freer once they get into the northeasterly trades passing Brazil to the north of Rio. Given that boats and crews are tired from the Southern Ocean one can perhaps see the attraction of not spending the best part of a week on the wind.

Meanwhile Cape Horn is set to see a lot of traffic over the next two to three days. Third placed Pachi Rivero and Antonio Piris aboard Renault ZE Sailing Team have 157 miles to go before they pass the Horn, followed by Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier on Neutrogena, 351 miles away at the latest sched.

All five boats now on the approach to Cape Horn are sailing in fruity 30+ knot conditions, hence why it is they that are clocking up the highest speeds in the fleet at the moment, Renault having averaged 18 knots between the last two scheds. Conditions are due to abate over the next 24 hours. All look set to pass close to Cape Horn. The question then will be - do they tough it out on the more direct course to the west of the high or do they follow Virbac Paprec 3 and Mapfre by going the pretty way to the east?

 

Latest Comments

  • Blackburn 08/03/2011 - 11:00

    With the help of some flares they can light up the area and take snapshots of each other? At the moment you could toss a wet cat from Neutrogena to Sodebo.

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