In the Indian Ocean, it is where Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink were just a day and a half after the start off La Réunion sailing, long since pitch dark on this Sunday evening. "It's a starry night, we have zero wind," reports Melwin Fink from on board. Around 9500 kilometres from their home in Hamburg, Burke and Fink set off on Saturday with the other eight Class40 duos on the third leg of the Globe40 circumnavigation. They had already seen the first sunset experienced like this on Saturday.
Globe40: a good 5000 nautical miles to Sydney ahead
The leg from la Réunion to Sydney has begun as leg two ended: the top three are again bow to bow. In the early hours of Sunday evening, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink were still just ahead of "Crédit Mutuel" with Ian Lipinski and Amélie Grassi and Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium with Jonas Gerckens and Benoît Hantzperg.
Two hours later, the Belgians had taken the lead in the Indian Ocean. After the prologue and the first two stages, they lead the Globe40 interim classification ahead of the German duo and the French. Everything points to this three-way battle continuing until the end of the race in April 2026. Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink had drawn a detailed interim balance here at YACHT online.
While the three top crews were sailing less than two nautical miles apart out in the Indian Ocean on Sunday evening, positions were still changing frequently. The circumnavigators had not yet had much sailing fun. Melwin Fink said on Sunday evening German time: "We're all going round in circles, all sitting very, very close together. The last time there was wind, we were in front. Now it's turning again. Let's see who gets the wind first and sets off."
The Mascarene high as the hurdle to the south
In the light winds that have prevailed so far, the leading trio have not yet been able to recognise any noticeable advantages in the given conditions. "The Belgians were the fastest in reaching, we were the fastest downwind. But everything is changing all the time. And once again it's very exciting to see how close the boats are to each other. Only when it's calm are we the last to set off. We're feeling that again. But the others are also sailing in circles, so it's all good," said Melwin Fink.
His crew was already sailing between 22nd and 23rd parallel south on Sunday evening. Like their competitors, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink want to make their way south as quickly as possible on this stretch of the Southern Ocean. On the way there, however, the expanding mascarne high is lurking. It will remain a balancing act for the two-handed crews to feel their way south-eastwards on the back of this high - always in danger of getting stuck in very shallow zones.
This huge high makes for colourful conditions - it's madness." Melwin Fink
The sailors' instincts and a bit of luck are currently very important. "We've had conditions so often now that weren't forecast. We just had a southerly wind, although we weren't supposed to have a southerly wind. Now the forecast is for a southerly wind, but we have a northerly wind. It's crazy! Wind, no wind, wind, no wind. You can't develop any real tactics except to sail south as quickly as possible," says Melwin Fink, describing the challenging situation in the Indian Ocean.
In the Globe40 with a good mood on course for the Southern Ocean
Fink assumes that all crews have something similar in mind, saying: "I think that's also the tactic that all the other participants are pursuing. It's definitely exciting. It could be easier sailing, but the weather is nice and we're in a good mood. We're also enjoying the quiet time until it gets cold, wet and fast in the south."
The youngest crew in the field has fond memories of the three weeks on the island of La Réunion, which they left the day before. "It was a great time ashore, but now we can finally sail again. Now we feel like sailing again and are looking forward to hopefully reaching Sydney as quickly as possible," says Melwin Fink.
The competition has the same plan. Here's a look at how Ian Lipinski and Amélie Grassi prepared for the current third stage. The review of the start on Saturday, emotional farewell scenes and great sailing pictures can be found here.
"Wilson" is the fastest Spitzbug at the start of the stage
"We don't yet know how long it will take. But we're really looking forward to sailing to Australia. We love it!", said "Wilson Around the World" skipper Lisa Berger before the start on La Réunion. The battles for position in the fleet of pointed bow boats also promise to be exciting. Although "Barco Brasil" has a good lead of 5.5 points over the Austrian Lisa Berger and her co-skipper Jade Edwards-Leaney, who are in fifth place in the intermediate classification, they have already proven a few times that they can fight.
After the prologue and Globe40 stages one and two, "Wilson" is only 0.5 points ahead of the French "Free Dom", which is now being sailed by Maxime Bourcier and Noél Delpech with a different crew on stage three. The good news from an Austrian fan's point of view: Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney had fought for fourth place on the current third leg by Sunday evening.
This is remarkable, as the mixed duo are sailing the Lombard-Akilaria RC 2 from 2010, the oldest boat in the Globe40 fleet. They are putting the Brazilians in front of them under a lot of pressure on their Mach 40.3, a latest-generation pointed bow. Click here for the Globe40 tracking, which is updated every four hours.
