January 26, 2019
A quarter of the way behind
The 10th day of the nonstop race around the world of the 40-meter maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 with skipper Jan Guichard ended. Passed a quarter of the way. If absolutely exactly – 6375 nautical miles.
The last three days were for 12 crew members Spindrift 2 truly dramatic. At some point, the trimaran was blocked by a giant anticyclone (from South America to Africa!) With an epicenter over St. Helena. And the speed of Spindrift 2 has plummeted.
Here are the numbers that will help you understand what happened. Three days ago, Guichard and Co. were ahead of the IDEC-SPORT trimaran record schedule with skipper Francis Juyon by 580 nautical miles. But then this advantage began to thaw rapidly. 450 miles, 350, 250 … At some point last night, only 88 nautical miles remained from the separation, which seemed huge.
After that, this gap began to increase again. Now, at 4 pm Friday Moscow time, Spindrift 2 has an advantage over the IDEC-SPORT schedule of 286 nautical miles. The maneuver that Guichard went to justified himself: he turned east only a few hours ago (much later than many of his predecessors), and now the winds are driving his trimaran forward at a speed of more than 30 knots!
Recall that Francis Juillon, who now owns the Jules Verne Trophy, during his record attempt, reached the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope 12 days, 19 hours and 41 minutes after the start. I wonder what the result will show on this segment Spindrift 2? We will know very soon …
268 January 26, 2019 # 8742
Chief Editor
