Out of the traffic and the litter of the Strait of Malacca and into the monsoon of the South China Sea. After the calm days and sometimes heavy traffic in the waters off Singapore, weather forecaster Gonzalo Infante predicts a tougher ride soon: "It's going to be very rough with gale force winds and rough seas building up. The sailors will have to ease off the throttle to avoid damage. A lot can happen here." But before we get the crowbar out, let's take a look back:
At the end of the dreaded Malacca Road, there were only a few metres between Telefonica and Groupama and between Abu Dhabi and Camper. They could have thrown beers at each other, but none of that happened. There was covering, airing and lurking. The Spaniards on the blue boat held their nerve and took the lead on the beat towards Borneo. Telefonica is said to have a slight speed advantage over Groupama on the cross, but Franck Cammas, the French skipper, remained optimistic. "Uphill is not exactly our strength, but we have improved." At the 04:00 CET position report, both Groupama and Puma had leapt past Telefonica with an early turn to the north. How long this joy will last remains to be seen.
Puma had previously been very close to the leading duo, but was stopped in the Strait of Singapore by an abandoned and unmarked fishing net that had wrapped itself around the appendages. After an hour's forced break, the net came off and the wind fell asleep. Ken Read and his colleagues had to watch helplessly as some of them left the front and others came up from behind. Abu Dhabi repeatedly passed Camper, but the fast New Zealanders always responded promptly in this ping-pong match and are currently in 4th place. Only Sanya is a bank. They are in last place and will probably remain so. "Disappointing," commented skipper Mike Sanderson. "I'd be happy if we didn't fall any further back."
There are still almost 1,000 miles to Sanya, which the first of them should reach around 4 February. Provided they avoid any major breakage.
Lots of traffic off Singapore
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