There was a change in the weather models this morning. The impact on the routing is that the western option is not looking quite as favourable. The ridge of high pressure has moved, blocking the southerly route down to the trade winds.
As you would have seen this morning on the tracker, the westerly group tacked and started heading south east towards the southern group. As a result, the westerly group have had to sacrifice some of the westerly advantage they gained since leaving the English Channel.
Despite the routing, Alex and Neal are both in good spirits. They’re learning a lot about the boat with every mile they sail. Last night they saw very high speeds and their feedback on the performance of the boat is extremely positive.
In between trimming the sails, sails changes, eating and sleeping they’ll be using what time they have to make the repairs to the damaged sail. Right now, this isn’t affecting them though as they’re not using the sail.
The boat is generally in good shape and the learning process continues, which is what this race is all about for us.
Track the race: www.alexthomsonracing.com/the-hub/race