Increasingly it looks like after leading the fleet across a very testing, unruly Indian Ocean the Pacific is remaining very amenable to for the top trio at least, and – as it looks today – there should be no sting in the tail between now and Cape Horn. Indeed second placed Richomme suggest there might be a period of lighter winds just after the Horn giving some moments of respite before the long ascent of the Atlantic for home.
Simple life
Richomme reported early this morning, “The current conditions, we have 20-25 knots downwind, and that's going to be the case overall until Cape Horn. Once the boat is set up, trimmed, it's pretty much sailing itself, so apart from keeping a watch over everything and routing the course and the different manoeuvres, it's quite simple! There's not much to think about, it's very simple, we have two gybes left for the Horn. It's going to be complicated after that, for the way up the Atlantic, and it's going to be interesting! But no sail change planned before the Horn, it's straight ahead, it's magical. I hope we won't be too far from the rock and might have been able to see it but for now it's forecast we go past at night!”
He took the time to explain the relative strengths and weaknesses between his Koch-Finot Conq design and Dalin’s Verdier boat, “Charlie and I don't have the same boat, he has a more powerful hull compromise, which allows him to go faster than me with the wind on the beam or on close-hauled tacks, but on the other hand, his nose is more likely to slam into the sea than mine! So normally I'm more comfortable downwind! These are two boats optimized in two different areas of range of possibilities.”
