Arkea Ultim Challenge: Weather chaos! Caudrelier pauses the race!

This morning, Charles Caudrelier's team announced that he was "pausing" the race, so to speak, sailing very slowly and avoiding an approaching strong storm depression in the South Pacific to the north. "We have to do this to protect the skipper and the boat," the team said in a message. Caudrelier still has around 1,800 miles to Cape Horn, but would be caught up by a real weather bomb shortly beforehand, which is likely to cause chaos at the Cape of Storms, especially on Monday.

Caudrelier's team router Erwan Israël explains what he would face there: "In the coming days, two low pressure systems will meet at the Cape and merge, a very explosive mixture. Gusts of over 70 knots are expected. The decision is therefore clear. With such a weather scenario, you simply can't tackle the Cape Horn rounding. As the ice exclusion zone prohibits a southerly course, there is simply no way out."

"We have decided to be patient"

"I'm trying to smile and stay positive, even if I have to chew on the fact that I might see the miles of my lead melt away. A week's lead is certainly a lot, but to round Cape Horn with just one day's lead is probably something every round-the-world skipper dreams of, and I'll probably have more than that." Caudrelier will probably round the Cape on Tuesday next week. To do so, he will have to let the depression in the south pass slowly on a north-easterly route over the next few days. Click here for the tracker.

And his pursuers are still being held up. Thomas Coville has not yet left Hobart despite the expiry of the 24-hour minimum stopping time for his repairs because a similar storm is raging on his doorstep and will probably continue to do so tomorrow. He will probably not be able to leave until tomorrow evening. Armel Le Cléac'h, meanwhile, has swerved extremely far north of the same storm depression and is preparing to round New Zealand to the north. However, he is already travelling at an average of 25 knots again, making up miles on Caudrelier despite the diversions. It will be interesting to see how much these storm lows have shaken up the field at the beginning of next week.