Brian Thompson and team aboard Doha 2006 has further extended their lead over Tony Bullimore’s Daedalus opening up the gap to an impressive 3,640 nautical miles at the 08:00 GMT poll this morning. The Qatari catamaran is shredding the planet, sailing the South Atlantic in 500 mile-a-day chunks. At this morning’s poll Doha 2006 was sailing at 24.95 knots.

Thompson, skipper aboard the superfast cat sent this report to yachtingworld.com earlier today: “This morning we passed the longitude of Greenwich, the prime meridian, and entered the Eastern Hemisphere. We are in beautiful conditions now with full main and medium gennaker, 23 knots of wind. 1,000 miles to the north-east of us is Cape Town, and the turning mark of Mauritius is still 3,100 miles distant. The sun is shining and we are in some smoother seas now after a few rough days in the South Atlantic.

“The water temperature overnight plummeted from 10 C to 6C and we were fast approaching the Antarctic Convergence zone, the area within which the majority of the bergs live out their last months. Just a few minutes ago we gybed towards the north at 45.5 degrees south, and we are waiting for the anticipated 30-degree veer in the wind, to take us on an easterly track for the next 1,800 miles. This should keep us in water temps between 9 and 5 degrees, so there will be an iceberg risk, but to the north of us there is high pressure, so we are threading our way between the ice to the south and the calms to the north. The more direct route past Cape Town is blocked by strong headwinds and beating for 2,000 miles is certainly the worst choice we could make at present. If we have to beat in a gale we could do it, but it’s not the best way to get to the finish in one piece.

“All good on board, everyone is in good spirits and we are particularly happy to see that Daedalus is round Cape Horn and out of the deep south, deep freeze that they had entered for the last few days. They must be in shorts and t-shirts at the Falklands after getting acclimatized to the freezing spray of 61 south.”

Brian – www.maxicatdoha.com