Banque Populaire VIII and Hugo Boss are now sailing in two different weather systems. They have a high pressure ridge between them.
Hugo Boss should finally get rid at the end of the day of the small low pressure system which will have slowed Thomson down a lot for the last 3 days while Banque Populaire seems to have suceeded in the transition between the border of the high pressure system and the North West of the Low pressure system which moves towards Cape Horn. The speedo should thus display high speeds for Armel le Cléac’h during the next hours.
From this evening, both leaders will sail in a different weather system. The forecast for tomorrow shows that they will be on both sides of a ridge of high pressure (zone in blue to the South of the High Pressure H).
SMA and Maître CoQ have not managed to cross the axis of the depression which has been blocking them for 48 hours. The wind conditions are still very unstable near its center, which explains why the ranking varies quickly.
The trio Quéguiner, StMichel Virbac and Finistère Mer Vent are sailing in a moderate northerly flow. Thomas Ruyant who went far North to avoid the strongest winds of the depression to the south of New Zealand still has more than 40 knots of wind. He is the skipper who is encountering the toughest conditions at the moment.
For the second group, the low pressure systems follow one another in the Indian Ocean. Sébastien Destremau and Romain Attanasio are probably the ones who have most wind today with a new low coming from the West. The wind may blow at more than 50 knots in the gusts under the front. This low is going to continue to move eastward and to affect the competitors who are still in the Indian Ocean one after the other.
CD and BS / Great Circle
Source: Vendee Globe
