02/20/2001
Very close to Brazil
Monday, February 19, 11.00 pm GMT
Club Med is following her northerly route while getting ever
closer to the coast of Brazil. The catamaran is only 220
miles form the coastline between Salvador de Bahia and
Récife. 948 miles distant, Innovation Explorer is beginning
to break free of the anticyclonic region that has slowed her
down for several hours.
There are 1,100 miles of latitude between Club Med and Innovation Explorer, and
500 of longitude. Loïck Peyron's boat has clearly played the card to the east of the
South Atlantic so as to be able to sail freer after exiting the anticyclone that lay
across her course. Between 10.00 and 11.00 pm GMT, Innovation Explorer tacked
as the wind shifted to the northeast. Her speed, at 7.3 knots average over the last
hour of racing, is still modest for a giant catamaran.
The gap between the two leaders of The Race should begin to narrow. Club Med,
whose speed is already only 13.3 knots, will probably see her average gradually
diminish while Innovation should continue to accelerate. It's the second phase of
the elastic effect. It began by stretching in favor of Grant Dalton and now it's Loïck
Peyron's turn to speed up and reduce the distance between them. However, since
that's more than 900 miles, the blue catamaran still has a solid margin.
Warta-Polpharma is heading southeast. She's making only 13 knots while Team
Adventure is already sailing at 26.5 knots average. Since leaving Cook Strait, Cam
Lewis has picked a course markedly more south and he can now expect lots of
westerlies for for the next few days. The catamaran should quickly cut into the
Polish boat's 380-mile lead.
No news lately from Team Legato, tied up to the dock in Wellington. They've not
advised the race management of many technical problems, the index thing has
been to take care of the crew.
DB
Translation by JMc
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