Pip Hare discovered a crack in the stock of one of her rudders. Fortunately she carried a spare rudder but replacing a rudder anywhere at sea is not easy and particularly so in the Southern Ocean. It is made more difficult as the rudders are lighter than water and don’t just drop out. She had practised this operation before the start though and it appears she used the technique first tried by Conrad Humphreys in the 2004 race of using his anchor chain to weigh the rudder down. Anyway she managed it, a very nice piece of seamanship, and she is now back in the race reporting a boat speed of a comfortable 15 knots although the operation cost her two places and she now lies 17th. Miranda Merron is still holding 23rd.
In the Atlantic, Maître CoQ has extended her lead to 435 miles, sailing in north easterly winds, whereas her two closest pursuers, Apivia and Linked Out are experiencing northerly winds. Geographically, Maître CoQ is now about 30 miles south of Punta Del Este in Uruguay.
Fourteen boats have now got passed Cape Horn, Romain Attanasio, 14th, is now clear, and the next tight group of four are still a 1,000 miles to go.
Hard to say what will happen with the weather over the next 24 hours as the race site gives one picture, based, I think, on the reports from the boats, and Windy is showing a different picture. As I said before, there is a lack of a decent meteorological data base for this area but if Windy is right, the wind is due to go round to the south later to-day which will benefit the whole fleet back in the Atlantic. There is some way to go to pick up the “normal” wind circulation, but the boats will want to get over to the east a bit more as they head north to make the most of that. But not too far to the east though as the South Atlantic High Pressure lurks mid ocean, about the Latitude of Rio de Janeiro.