Minis blasting south

The solosailors in Transat 6.50 have been enjoying some hot angled sailing the last couples of days. The three up front, Corentin Douguet, Yves Blevec and Stanislas Maslard respectively, has put over 200 nautical miles in their wake the last 24 hours. That’s hard driving in a 21 foot overpowered Mini. The biggest fear of each skipper is falling asleep and has the autopilot sending the boat in to a kite ruining broach. The Cape Verde archipelago are only 130 nautical miles away from the first boats, but there’s still to much distance to the finish to have major kite repairs to struggle with.

The approach to Cape Verde will be difficult as the wind will easy off to 15-5 knots and swing between NE and NNE. The boats to the west of the rhumbline will benefit from this. South of the islands there will be northerly 5 knops and that will give the boats chasing the leaders a chance to catch up. The high mountains will give a lot of local effects that the sailors have to tackle.