Sailing Magazine
pic by Billy Black
South African Donald Alexander on Power of One is into 5th place now and handily placed on an inshore leg.
In the last 24-hours of the Atlantic Cup there’s been a significant consolidation in the fleet. Yesterday afternoon the boats were sailing north fast and furiously and were divided into three strategic camps–left, centre and right. Overnight, the French team skippered by Catherine Pourre and Pietro Luciani on Eärendil decided to change course and head west across the top of the fleet, capturing the lead as they settled to the centre. Angola Cables has continued to stretch out to the east, but so far the move hasn’t paid dividends.
Amhas skippered by Micah Davis and Rob Windsor picked the middle route and are holding on to a very thin lead. In Amhas’ morning update, Rob said of the conditions, “it’s changed an awful lot! It’s really kind of a pain in the *&*. The weather files said that we should have had 20 knots of wind and we have none! Right now we’re under our solent and we’re looking at Eärendil on AIS just 3.2nm behind us. We are just trying to keep the boat going fast, we’ve got some surfing waves from behind and we then run into the northerly waves so we’re slamming a little now but it’s all to play for here!”
The oldest boat in the race, First Light and the much newer Power of One skippered by South African Donald Alexander, are still the most westerly boats and appear headed to pick up any land breeze available. With the winds forecast to be light approaching New York Harbor, the sailing intensity will increase. Full concentration is required to keep the boat’s momentum up, and constant attention to the weather gribs and current information can make the difference.
First arrivals are anticipated for today (Tuesday).
