The next four skippers should pass in steady succession. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) is up to seventh ahead of Germany’s Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) who looks set to round in eighth, Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) in ninth. The German skipper Herrmann noted yesterday, “I’m gutted because, according to my routings, I’ll pass Cape Horn on the 28th of December at 9:00 AM UTC, but that’s nighttime for us, and I’ll be more than 100 miles south of the Cape. A few days ago, there was still a chance to pass closer to the Horn, maybe even through the Le Maire Strait and left of the Falklands, but that’s history now. With the current conditions, the routings show we’re only managing about 70% of the optimal course. It’s been crazy. You can’t perfectly adapt to such constantly changing weather.”

GETTING THROUGH THE LOW RICHOMME GETS RICHER…..

At the top of the fleet the two leaders are close to the centre of the low pressure they are negotiating some 250 nautical miles off the Argentinian coast. Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) has the leader’s advantage of breaking into the better breeze first while Charlie Dalin, behind on MACIF Santé Prévoyance, seems slightly closer to the centre of the low with a little less wind. He is now 88 nautical miles behind Richomme who reported overnight,

“It has really been very intense since passing Cape Horn. I feel a lot of fatigue at the moment but we will have a little time to rest after this depression but morale is good. We are where we want to be. I managed to wash myself for the first time in a month and it was still super pleasant and I was able to do that in the transition at the Falklands. The water was at 8° Celsius but it still felt so good. A little reset of ‘the guy’. It resets the counters back to zero and it gives you a lot of energy so it feels good. Shaved, washed, hair done, change of clothes and there it is, The temperature has risen quite a bit. It is permanently 20° inside the boat. The water is also at 20°. Let’s see if I can grab another little shower off the coast of Rio. The passage of he the depression is not going too bad apart from some rather strong gusts that I am catching because I am arriving close to the centre but if all goes well, it should just pass in front of me. So I hope to bypass it without too much trouble. My objective in relation to the situation is to optimise this depression as much as possible so that it pushes me as far north as possible, towards Rio de Janeiro. The stakes are to reach the stationary cold front of Cape Frio quickly. You have to position yourself in relation to it and find a mouse hole to slip through. It is not that easy to do. Afterwards, it is more traditional because it is close-hauled before passing the trade wind and being through it. This cold front is a relatively big stake. So I try to spend a lot of time studying it.”

Richomme is pushing as hard as ever  knowing that in the close hauled phase, sailing closer to the wind, Dalin has the boat which is more optimised for these tighter angles and so these extra gains will be welcomed,