This is racing update 3 for leg one of the Virtual Volvo Ocean Race.

The Yacht Hold the Mayo emerged from the Straight of Gibraltar at approximately 9:45 pm EDT. Some unwise course selection and bad wind luck have resulted in missing the goal of reaching this point in the top half of the fleet.

As you can see from the screen cap below I exited the Straight in 17,245th place. There are currently 24,171 registered boats in the race, so I have a lot more bad sailing to do before I can claim DFL honors. (It's a technical sailing term that translates roughly to Dead F'n Last.)

I have maintained the same relative position in the fleet for the last several hours. Passing or being passed by three or four boats every 10 minute cycle. For reference, in the screen cap below, the blue boat just above my stern is about 700 boats behind me, and the pink boat is a bout 500 ahead.

The forecast is for the wind to build over the next 12 hours and shift slightly north. I will probably continue on the same course overnight and begin to turn toward the southwest in the morning.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 09:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment