crack on
Hey Anarchists! It’s back to old tricks now after the madness of the first two days has slipped away. We’re still moving at a fair clip though, averaging over 18 knots at 130 TWA. Bermuda lies roughly 180 miles to the south east of us now, which is made evident by the amount of shipping and cruise lines whizzing by tonight.
The route ahead, according to our latest weather models, is still showing a slightly more southerly route then a normal Atlantic crossing. However, if the Azores high pressure moves any further north, subsequently pushing our narrow low-pressure trough up with it, we will be forced to head for the higher latitudes to stay in favourable conditions. Until then, we will get east as fast as possible in the diminishing secondary low that was formed off of the tropical storm.
On board things have gotten back to the old routine now. IPods are being busted out now that people have caught up on sleep, and the daily candy war has begun again. We just lost sight of Telefonica ahead of us before nightfall and still seem to be holding our own amongst the fleet. Sail changes and any manoeuvres at this point will be critical. It’s a drag race due east right now, and it’s likely the same old scenario of the rich get richer.
It definitely feels good to catch up on a bit of sleep – you don’t realize how knackered you really are until the adrenaline wears off. Then you crash hard. The view from Azzam was spectacular last night, so that was some consolation. It was if we were sitting on the edge of a battleground. Huge lightning storms engulfed half the horizon behind us, lighting up mountainous cloud heads that reach miles into the sky. This was tropical storm Alberta – and we saw the eye of it.
In the early hours of the morning we began noticing a sharp increase in wind along with very sudden shifts in wind direction. Trademark signs that we were being sucked into the edge of a tropical depression. We knew about the depression, and us along with the rest of fleet, were seeking it out. Thankfully that is behind us and we can crack on with getting to Lisbon! – Nick Dana, Abu Dhabi. The latest positions:
- Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), 2,334.2 miles to finish
- Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), +9.2 miles
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +18.4 miles
- Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +21.4 miles
- Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +22.7 miles
- Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +65.9 miles
