The VOR yacht illbruck is stretching distance away from the fleet towards the Falkland Islands with the fleet stuck in the Estrecho de Le Maire. This is a 20 mile wide channel between the eastern tip of Argentina and an island Isla de los Estrados where the current can run from anything between five and even up to eight knots in places. A big advantage if you can get through this channel with the tide and it appears that illbruck just managed to achieve this. Her rivals seem not to have been so fortunate, taking almost double the length of time to pass through the Estrecho. Paul Cayard, on Amer Sports One and second boat around Cape Horn anticipated that this could be the case yesterday, “It looks to me like illbruck is perfectly positioned to make a big gain down here. Their 60 mile lead will get them into the Estrecha, with about 16-18 knots wind and just before the maximum northerly flow. We will arrive 5-6 hours later, with 5-7 knots in the Estrecha and a foul current.”

John Kostecki, was delighted that they had hit this tide gate just right, “Fortunately we hit this tide gate perfectly and took advantage of a 4-5 knots current boost. We hope our competitors are not so lucky!” It appears from the ‘pile up’ in the Estrecho that Kostecki’s hopes have come true. This has left Amer Sports One fighting hard with Tyco for second place and News Corp and Assa Abloy fighting for fourth. Perhaps djuice might be as fortunate as illbruck, but a tide later.

Position Report, Day 16, 0359 GMT

1 ILBK

2 AONE (74 miles from leader)

3 TYCO (74 miles from leader)

4 NEWS (83 miles from leader)

5 AART (84 miles from leader)

6 DJCE (101 miles from leader)

7 ATOO (542 miles from leader)

8 TSEB (928 miles from leader)