Today's Sailing News 

The Race: Fastest One ever

The leading group in The Race have presented clear evidence that  we are watching the fastest sailboat race ever. The three near sister ships all posted 24 hour runs of over 500 miles. Team Adventure sailed 570 miles, Club Med 537 and Innovation Explorer 512.

According to Cam Lewis "Full main and staysail are the engines we  are using now and it is an incredible combo." 

Team Adventure's speed has allowed her to draw within 4 miles of Club Med's lead. It seems likely that at the next report Club Med will have lost the lead.

Next up for the leaders is the negotiation of the large, light  wind St. Helena high. According to Team Adventure boss Cam Lewis: "Jean Yves Bernot, our French co-navigator and router extraordinaire, says
we are going too fast for the weather forecast!" 

Typically sailors detour
to the west towards Brazil to avoid this high.  Once again the three near sisters are strung out east to west
in this order: Club Med, Team Adventure and Innovation Explorer. It
seems that the west position taken by Innovation Explorer has not been of great benefit. This could tempt the others to try and sail through a gap in the St. Helena high. Cam Lewis casts doubt on Team Adventure doing so:
"Our tactic is to out speed the others, don't break the boat, stay in the game, and no flyers right or left. This is a drag race to the southern wind highway!" 

Playstation has become the 4th in the fleet to cross the equator. Crew David Scully summed up Playstation's doldrums frustration's: "We cannot get south on this breeze. We steer SW, and sit in the cockpit, and talk of other races, and other things, trying not to talk about the rest of the fleet, gaining mega-miles as we sit. Now is the time to take satisfaction in that it is a long race, but we still hate this part."

Warta Polpharma will be next to experience the Doldrums. They are
currently at 3° north.
Team Legato is finally in beneficial conditions, having done 313  miles 4th best in the fleet. Skipper Tony Bullimore reports, "For the last 36 hrs we have been sailing at speeds of 20 knots+" 

For the next 24 hours the front 4 boats should be in favorable force 4 and 5 winds. Look for more 500 mile days from the leaders of the fastest sailboat race ever.

Head to the Sailing Daily Forum and discuss sailing!

Today's Vendee Globe Report:    Active Wear Now 3rd

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 Today's Sailing News 

Today's Cam-Gram Quote 

Times Clipper Update

Leg 5 is  from the Galapagos Islands to Hawaii, 4100 miles.

Leader: London Clipper by 25 miles

Best 24 Hour Run: Liverpool Clipper 236 miles 

Position: Boats range from 4 to 11 degrees north of the equator

Current Weather: Varies with position

Weather Forecast: Lots of localized squalls and calms.

BT Challenge Update

Leg 3 is  Buenos Aries to  Wellington New Zealand via Cape Horn.  

Leader: Compaq by 3 miles

Best 24 Hour Run: Olympic Group 173 miles

Position: 700 miles to go

Current Weather: W Force 4

Weather Forecast: NE Force 4-5

Lake Affect Snow Note

For those of us concerned with the level of the Great Lakes, a scenario of much snow and cool temperatures is often though of as ideal to raise the lakes.

That is unless the snow is lake affect.  According to the Corps of Engineers: "Much of this snow comes from water evaporated off the open lake surface which has a negative net impact on the water balance.  A substantial fraction of this snowfall is also lost to the atmosphere via evaporation and does not runoff and return to the lake."

So, the scenario for rising lake levels should be amended to: cold temperatures and plenty of non lake affect snow.