illbruck away again

Weather situation is variable giving navigators a fresh call to arms in the Volvo fleet

Positions at 1000

PS	Yacht	Lat	Long	DTF	DTL	DTL-C	SMG	CMG
1	illbruck	20 36.04N	065 12.60W	888	0	0	11.2	311
2	Tyco	20 25.32N	064 46.44W	915	27	5	11.1	321
3	Assa Abloy	20 23.16N	064 45.60W	917	29	7	10.5	321
4	SEB	19 55.68N	063 50.08W	976	88	7	10.4	318
5	Amer One	19 01.92N	063 38.96W	1011	123	7	10.1	287
6	News Corp	18 58.52N	063 36.64W	1015	127	6	10.2	288
7	Amer Too	19 12.72N	062 29.04W	1063	175	2	11.6	324
8	djuice	18 41.24N	062 42.52W	1068	180	0	11.5	318

Wind conditions at 1200GMT today



As predicted the location of the cold front to their north west has seen conditions get lighter for the front runners, although the wind has yet to veer to the south east and may not do so as the front appears to be dissipating over the course of the day.

illbruck this morning recording 14 knots of wind instead of 20 in the Trades. While this has caused the distance between first and last to go down to 180 miles, illbruck somehow has managed to make the break and are this morning a comfortable 27 miles ahead of Tyco who have managed to crawl pass Assa in the last six hours. Is it coincidence that Kostecki's team often seem to put on a burst of speed during the early hours?

Elsewhere in the fleet the seventh place position of Lisa McDonald's Amer Sports Too is now under threat from djuice who are just five miles astern. The girls have split to the east. Will this move pay off? We should know in the next 48 hours.

Meanwile News Corp is engaging Amer Sports Onein the fight for fifth place. Both boats have headed off on a westerly direction, presumably a tactical move to make the best of the dissipating front.

On the next pages read about the Flying Fish antics on SEB and Mark Rudiger's account of Assa Abloy and a very friendly humpback whale...
PLUS... see Rick Tomlinson's images taken yesterday of the leaders passing Barbuda