For the fans at home, looking at the tracker is enough to make their hair stand on end. For the participants, however, who have far more rudimentary information, the uncertainty they are sailing into must be almost unbearable.
At the moment, the locations of the Minis seem almost random. A small group in the south-east is trying to be the first to reach the trade winds. Another is chasing a trough to the north-west of the great circle course and then the north side of a small depression before the north-east trade winds arrive there too. And then there is the fairly broad faction in the centre, which doesn't like to experiment and goes for the shortest distance.
There are well-known favourites in all three groups. Carlos Manera, the winner of stage 1, is keeping closest to the racing line among the Protos and has also taken over the overall lead this morning.
Laure Galley on "DMG Mori Sailing Academy 2" is struggling through the leaden doldrums furthest to the south-east. She had got away well in La Palma, but now has to be brave because she is last in the prototype classification, already almost 130 nautical miles behind Carlos Manera.
This could almost be something of a preliminary decision, were it not for the 2,500 miles to Guadeloupe and a weather scenario that is difficult to interpret overall, but which currently favours the boats further to the north-west.
Co-favourite Caroline Boule has to make a stopover
These include Luca Rosetti on "Race:Care", who initially led the series classification, and Léo Bothorel ("Les Optiministes"), one of the potential candidates for victory, who admittedly fell back badly on stage 1.
Lisa Berger is also holding up well in position 20, although she is not sailing as far north as some of her competitors - and therefore may not quite make it to the north side of the low during the night. All she can do then is wait for the trade winds to set in, which according to the European weather model should blow stronger in the north than in the south.
In any case, it will be exciting for the Minis, who are lucky enough to be spared the powerful storm lows in the Bay of Biscay. But it doesn't look like a fast race for them. Christian Dumard, the Mini-Transat's weather router, estimates that the fastest will probably need around 20 days.
The start did not go as hoped for Caroline Boule ("Nicomatic"). The co-favourite on the fast Sam Manuard foiler already had problems with the autopilot on the first night and had to call at El Hierro, where she had to make repairs. This morning she got back on course, but is stuck in the doldrums and has to work hard to get upwind. A bitter setback after leg one had already not gone according to plan for her. Let's see if she can catch up this time.
