News

Crews endured another tough day on the Atlantic Ocean having completed just 600nm on day 41.This is a mild improvement on the previous day, and a trend that should continue over coming days. The forecast is for light winds up to approximately 10 knots across the fleet for the next few days. Direction should generally be to the West although there are areas where wind will be more pronounced to the North and South.

Vivaldi (Rames Dames) continue to move well and, currently lie third in the progress table their highest position yet. Furthermore they are making big moves on the second placed crew of QBE Insurance Challenger and will be looking to overhaul the leading pair’s crew in the coming days.

Today has seen the crews deal with Valentines Day at sea – a time usually spent with a loved one. However, whilst it may be disappointing to endure this time alone, there will be one crew more upset than the rest – the crew of Red Arrow were hoping to get a FedEx drop with cards from adoring supporters. Sadly if rumours are to be believed, FedEx cannot reach the crews current position, and so they will have to go without this morale and ego boosting lift.

Today also sees the birthday of Fancois Lamy on Karukera. The crew have struggled over recent days with injury but look to be back on track, and will hope to challenge for the lead of the pairs class once again.

Tomorrow will see the conclusion of week 6 at sea and with it any hope of a class speed record (with the records for fours, pairs and solo at 36, 40 and 42 days respectively). However, as suggested previously there are many records still available, which will be discussed in tomorrows update.