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11:13 AM Fri 9 Jan 2009 GMT
Speeds have dropped for the leaders Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) who is 142 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) as they try to skirt the developing high pressure system but they maintain good speeds.
The forecasts have been predicting lighter conditions for the two front-runners from this weekend with a high developing in their path, but both Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) and Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) have already slowed down this morning averaging only around ten knots.
That still puts them on the average speed they need to maintain to reach Les Sables in under 87 days, which was the time Vincent Riou took in 2004-2005. They are currently on the edge of the anticyclone with 12-knot SW'ly winds and are aiming to head north-eastwards to avoid the centre of the system, which has developed off Uruguay. Roland Jourdain has taken some easting, spending another 20 miles to line up nearer the track of the leader.
The trade winds seem to be in place to the north of 30?S, some 700 miles ahead of the duo. Even if the speeds have slowed, they do not seem to be stuck in light winds, but simply reducing their daily distance to around 240 miles. By the end of this coming weekend, we can even imagine that their speeds will be picking up again in the E'ly trade winds.
Armel Le Cl?ac'h is continuing at better speeds for the moment, sailing closer to the wind and having passed to the east of the Falklands, just a dozen or so miles off Port Stanley. The skipper of Brit Air is trying to round the high by heading north-eastwards and is making gains of the two frontrunners. Over the next few days he is likely to be in an enviable position narrowing the gap on the leader.
The challenge for Samantha Davies (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot (Safran) is to leave the Pacific behind. With 700 miles to go to Cape Horn, Sam is the fastest in the fleet again this morning with a steady 20-knot NW'ly wind and has been making consistent 14-16 knots speeds. Conditions are likely to become rougher tomorrow as a low develops off the coast of Chile with squalls, gusts and fluctuating winds.
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) is about 180 miles ahead of Arnaud Boissi?res (Ak?na V?randas) and Dee Caffari (Aviva) and all three are are going to be diving down to the Furious Fifties to avoid the calms ahead of them. Caffari has reduced her deficit to her French rival to seven miles this morning and has been consistently a knot quicker. They are less than 10 miles apart in terms of lateral distance.
Steve White (Toe in the Water) has had the bad luck to be caught in the tentacles of the high and he was taken prisoner for a whole day. This morning he appears to have escaped, but is not out of the woods yet, as the high is moving eastwards towards the next gate.
In the middle of the Pacific a tropical storm is building, and while Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) and Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) are not likely to be affected Rich Wilson (Great American III) could well find himself in the path of this thundery low-pressure area. Austrian skipper Sedlacek has reported damage to the top of his mainsail track and is forced to sail with one reef.
Stevet White:It was a great start to the day - a bit of steady breeze at last, all six knots of it! I cannot describe to you what a pleasure it was to hear the hiss of the water going past the hull again as I lay in bed, it seemed an age since I had heard it last. At least the calm conditions have given me chance to complete the repairs; the gooseneck is now well and truly held in place with a fairly serious piece of composite engineering and some fairly serious dyneema lashing wound bar tight with a couple of Spanish windlasses below decks to two strong points on the keel. All the nasty cracking noises have stopped now, and I have a great deal of confidence in the repair. The generator is lashed down to some carbon dowels fitted to the bearers, as one of the mounts had ripped its bolts out and another had just sheered. I had a keel moment too. Down the side of the empty fuel tank on the starboard side, I caught sight of a dirty great bolt, and had a horrible thought that it must have been one of the draw bolts that go through the keel foil and it's socket inside the boat. I couldn't stand it any more, and I removed the tank and had a look - everything was fine. I think someone had just dropped a load of bolts down the side during the refit.'
'When the sun came up and the breeze became steady, eventually it became spinnaker time. I got everything rigged and went for a hoist, but I could feel bumps as I pulled on the halyard - I thought I had damaged the top block, so down it came, and up I went instead! It is the one thing I don't like doing alone, but boy do you get a kick out of getting down on deck again afterwards! The breeze had come up and the boat was pitching and as I clung on for dear life like some sort of pole dancing koala. I really began to wish I had worn my crash helmet! All was OK up there, I just think everything had got dry, but on the way up I saw that where we had been sailing with gennaker and staysail, when we only use very little halyard tension, the halyard block had twisted and gradually sawn through the inner forestay! It is about seventy five percent through, so it was a very near thing indeed. So the rest of the day comprised four trips up to the second set of spreaders as we sailed along with full main and 'Toe in the Water' kite. My arms and legs are like lead after all that I must admit, and my elbow feels like it has been injected with grit, but it will be OK tomorrow.'
0400 HRS GMT. Rankings, Friday 9th January
(FRA unless stated)
1. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 5813 miles
2. Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at + 142.8 miles
3. Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) + 763.3 miles
4. Vincent Riou (PRB) + 1186.8 miles (no abandon received yet, but towed to shore)
5. Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY) at + 1896.4 miles
Selected International
7. Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 2875.3 miles
9. Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 3134.5 miles
10. Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 4228.1 miles
11. Rich Wilson, USA, (Great American III) at + 4995.1 miles
12. Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) at + 6230.6 miles
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