At 0830 (LMT) this morning (4 April), Graham Dalton (NZL) finally left the port of Fortaleza in Brazil to recommence racing in the Velux 5-Oceans Race. After an unwanted and extended pit stop in Latin America, the experienced yachtsman is heading out to sea to clear the local oil rigs before pointing his Open 50 A Southern Man Agd north to Norfolk, Virginia (USA).

Dalton has had a tough time in The Ultimate Solo Challenge and things aren’t set to get any easier. After pulling into Brazil to repair a damaged rudder cassette, Graham suffered the unfortunate loss of his keel bulb. After building a new bulb locally, the tenacious Kiwi skipper now has 3,220 nautical miles to go to reach Norfolk.

If he averages 10 knots then it will take approximately 13.5 days which mean he’ll arrive in Norfolk on 18 April. Under the race rules, the cut-off date to arrive in the final host port before returning to Bilbao is 19 April, so it will be a close race against the clock.

The remainder of the fleet is due to leave Norfolk on Sunday, 15 April on the final sprint back to the Spanish Basque Country to complete the epic solo circumnavigation.