Interesting approaching the Roaring Forties ....

[Racecruiser]

Quite a lot of boats quite close to each other:

http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Alex still second but the boats that went further west are going faster and I see from his latest update he's expecting to lose a couple of places before the roller coaster starts round the bottom of the planet. Next few weeks could be awesome - big plums definitely required.

Just one small plea - let's give the colregs debate a rest. I'm sure down there there isn't much to bump into except growlers and they will definitely not be keeping a 24 hour look-out and displaying correct lights or signals. Hopefully the icegates will keep them north of anything. Mind you if it gets really close there may be other competitors a bit close.

[E39mad]

Yep ... going West and South is paying off. Thomson drops 2 places to forth.

[Hoolie]

Indeed. Virbac Paprec is going at nearly 9 knots faster than the current leader Banque Populaire.

[Roberto]

also, the tracker is nonsensical as to positions

I measured earlier the distances to the "Gough" gate, Jp Dick (the SW-most boat) was late by about 30 miles, sailing at a higher speed
The tracker indicated 180 miles behind as it measures physical distances from the first competitor (???)





QED, a few hours later JPDick is definitely in first position, I measured he is about 30miles in front of Le Cleac'h, still the tracker is nonsense it keeps on indicating Le CLeac'h leading by 150miles

[Hoolie]

I don't know what the pale blue line is - maybe an idealised optimum track. So maybe the nonsensical distances are related to this "ideal" track? Obviously totally distinct from reality ... ...

Anyway the boats to the west have better wind and it will soon all change.

[E39mad]

It's good for the race - convergence of the fleet means that anyone of the top eight still has a chance imho - although still a long way to go!!

[bbg]

also, the tracker is nonsensical as to positions

I measured earlier the distances to the "Gough" gate, Jp Dick (the SW-most boat) was late by about 30 miles, sailing at a higher speed
The tracker indicated 180 miles behind as it measures physical distances from the first competitor (???)

Gough Island is a mark of the course - which they have to leave to starboard. Which they will all do, by scores of miles.

The next mark of the course is the Aiguilles Gate, several hundred miles west and south.

[Roberto]

Quite a lot of boats quite close to each other:

I have tried the routing for Le Cleach (northern boat) and Dick (the SWernmost), it seems to indicate that who has taken the South option should well continue that way, before turning and converging towards the Agulhas gate.


(Hopefully the Imoca polars inside the software are ok-ish ? Theoretical arrival times at the gate are very similar 4d8.5h for LeCleac'h, 4d4h for Dick. JPDick will have sailed a quite longer route.)