Frustrations vented perhaps, or maybe it is just that there is now light at the end of the tunnel, but Mike Golding's mood has lifted with the arrival of a slightly more useful breeze. From ECOVER this afternoon, he reports that he may now be getting through the high pressure zone of unfavourable light winds.

"I am now lifted and on a reach. The wind shifted very quickly this morning so I am not going upwind now. It is a light gentle breeze and I am under Code Zero and full main. I have had anything between three and nine knots but nothing more than nine knots. I haven't actually stopped and I have gone very slow at times." Said Mike.

"I am making progress, slow progress. The high is going over me, and I am getting south now. But I need to get a lot more South. My problem is that when I come out Alex will be a lot further south than me at the other end. He is going to have a wind advantage on me and maybe half a day ahead. I can't see me stopping his march, frankly."

"But it should it be close. It'll be a race and he will be catch-able. What we need is for this thing (the high) to accelerate (eastwards) and sit on Bernard for a while, and if it does sit on him then I am only showing as two days behind which is not too bad, and it could even turn in to less further down the course. So, we just need this bloody high to keep moving and if it does and slows Bernard a bit, we will be pretty quick going towards the waypoint. We just have to get to this blinking waypoint."

ECOVER's Project Manager Gringo Tourrell agrees with that picture:
"One thing that would be good is if Mike and Alex are pushing each other in the Southern Ocean side by side as that will help them close down Bernard as much as they can. And you just never know what the approach to Fremantle will bring, but certainly I don't think it is looking as bad as it did."

Coralie Rassinoux 

www.mikegolding.com 

Velux 5 Ocean photos

Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 November 2006 )