Brian Thompson, skipper aboard Doha 2006 sent yachtingworld.com his latest report from the front of the Oryx Quest fleet

Another busy night on Doha 2006 as we head north to Uruguay. It’s the third night in the row of sailing through depressions and fronts and this has given us more sail changes than we had for the entire Southern Ocean leg. This morning just before dawn we had a steady 15 knots of wind that surged to 55 knots in a squall, one that was complete with hailstones the size of large peas. It was dramatic start to the day, with spume from the sea mixed with the hail, all flying across the surface of the sea. Since then we have had several more squalls of the same intensity, so it’s been a constant stream of sail changes.

I have never seen so many vicious squalls in one place. It must be the cold air rushing down from the Andes and the Southern Ocean behind that, mixing with the relatively warm water. Whatever it is, it’s keeping the whole team busy. There has been a lot of lightning around in the squalls, so at night it’s a spectacular show.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to our rendezvous at Los Lobos Island, just off Punta del Este in Uruguay. Apart from rounding the island and heading out into the open Atlantic, we are meeting up with Will Ingham from APP Broadcast, who is going to pick up Paul’s video tapes from a RIB, and try to get on board for some quick interviews before diving into the sea with his camera. Also Raffaella Motta, our shore administrator will be there to give all of us, and especially Stan, some support. We look forward to seeing them, if only very briefly. The Race Rules prohibit outside assistance without a 24 hour stop and go penalty, so any thoughts of replenishing our diminishing Tabasco stocks have to be quelled by our desire to win this race.

Brian – www.maxicatdoha.com