Globe40: Burke and Fink under pressure - "Something has been brewing behind us"

Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are fighting their way forward in increasing winds on the second Globe40 leg at the 42nd parallel. Overnight they were able to close the gap to the top two boats. They are approaching the first Cape Passage of the circumnavigation, while a depression is rushing in from behind. At the end of the fleet, the sighting of a humpback whale gave them a feeling of happiness.

Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink were just under 600 nautical miles from the Cape of Good Hope on the morning of 21 October. There were still 640 nautical miles to go on this second leg of the Globe40 circumnavigation to Cape Agulhas and thus to the entrance to the Indian Ocean. Close to the course limit at 42 degrees latitude, Burke and Fink made progress on Tuesday morning in 22 or 23 knots of wind at a boat speed of 17 to 20 knots.

Globe40: Powerplay at 42 degrees south

The setting in the Southern Ocean lives up to its promise for the youngest crew in Globe40. In winds that have been howling strongly for days, the duo from Hamburg has prepared well for the approaching depression. The winds are expected to increase significantly again over the next 30 hours.

"Something has been brewing behind us, but we should actually be spared the worst of it in the north." Melwin Fink

According to the crew's own assessment, the low pressure system rushing in from the west will not hit them with full force. "We should never actually get more than 35 knots. Tomorrow night is supposed to be the worst, up to 35 knots. That won't restrict us any further for the time being," said Melwin Fink on Tuesday morning.

470 nautical miles ahead of Burke and Fink, Benoït Hantzperg and Renaud Dehareng from Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium are already very close to passing the Cape of Good Hope at the head of the fleet. The duo defended a 40 nautical mile lead on the 19th race day of the second Globe40 leg in a duel with Ian Lipinski and Amélie Grassi on "Crédit Mutuel". Both boats were already moving away from the 42-degree course limit to the north, preparing to dive into the Indian Ocean and the final leg to the destination of La Réunion.

Burke and Fink in good spirits at Globe40

The situation is different for their first pursuers. Melwin Fink explained: "We're staying on course down here at the 42-degree line. We should actually be doing quite well ahead of the system. That's what we've been doing for one and a half or two days." 14 knots of speed alternated with furious surfs of 23 knots in the howling winds of the "Roaring Forties". "The average value is usually 15 or 16 knots in the tracker," explains Melwin Fink.

His team is still doing well in the deep south. Fink says: "Everything is going very well. We are quite happy, the boat is well prepared for the wind. We'll put a smaller sail on it and then we'll see what happens." Click here to go to the tracker, whose wind forecasts can also be seen for the near future by moving them on the timeline at the top right.

Further back in the fleet, Austrian Lisa Berger and her co-skipper Jade Edwards-Leany sailed in sixth place towards the Cape Passage at around 34 degrees south latitude. A good 1300 nautical miles behind the Belgian leaders, they already had to contend with powerful winds. "Wilson Around the World" skipper Lisa Berger reported: "We sailed one night and one day at full speed on a low-pressure system where we had winds of 30 to 35 knots, sometimes up to 40 knots. The waves here in the South Atlantic had plenty of time and space to build up."

Lisa Berger's declaration of love to the South Atlantic

Lisa Berger enjoyed the power play in the elements, writing: "It's just beautiful. Unfortunately it seems pretty impossible to describe the wave height in videos, but I can tell you it's really mesmerising! Wilson loves it too..."

Meanwhile, Melodie Schaffer and Julia Virat reported an exciting encounter. The Canadian and the Frenchwoman last sailed in seventh place just before the 32nd parallel south, almost 1500 nautical miles behind the leading Belgians. In heavy, sometimes chaotic seas, the two sailors are also struggling with technical problems with their hydrogenerator with limited autopilot.

Julia Virat also reported on the beauty of sailing in the South Atlantic, despite the difficult struggles on board: "Yesterday afternoon, after 24 exhausting hours, the autopilot began to work better. I made my way on deck to carefully check that everything was in order. And then I lift my head and look out over the vast ocean and realise that I haven't looked up from the helm for 24 hours, everything has been so demanding and hostile. And I see this churning sea, the huge waves crashing across to us, shades of turquoise shining through amidst a grey colour palette, the sun breaking through a little, drops of salt water being stirred up by the wind on the crests of the waves. It's beautiful."

I can't help but smile as I watch this wild spectacle and almost regret that I forgot to admire it for so long, even though it was right in front of my eyes." Julia Virat

The Frenchwoman continued: "It's almost as if I was reconciling myself to the situation. And right at that moment, I saw this thing right in front of me, just 15 or 20 metres away. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was the fin of a huge humpback whale that kept plunging into the water in front of my eyes. What a sight, what a sight!"

Moments of bliss at Globe40

Julia Virat described the next few minutes as follows: "I screamed with joy to wake Melodie, who realised that something was going on, although for once it hadn't even occurred to me to translate "whale" into English, I was so excited. A few minutes of pure bliss. An incredible encounter. In this huge and lonely place, in this chaos of grey and wind, and he gave me this moment outside of time and reality!"

The Frenchwoman drew on these extraordinary moments for a long time, noting: "It took me several hours to recover from this pure happiness, but what is certain is that it completely reconciled me with the elements and the difficult situation we were going through. Everything made much more sense again and got me back on track."