Tyco is still leading the second leg of the VOR but only by two miles. The wind is light and shifty so the aim is to sail south as soon as possible to pick up the low pressure zones along in the Southern Ocean. Kevin Shoebridge aboard Tyco comments about their position and the sort of conditions they are likely to expect within the next few days

‘We’ve been in front for the past two days but the distances to the others are small. djuice is directly behind by a few miles and we can also see Amer Sports One and SEB. News Corp has gone the most aggressively south and are 30 miles behind. All this distances don’t count for much as it is more important to position yourself correctly for the westerlies, which are not far away. By the end of the day we hope to have a spinnaker on and start the fast sleigh ride across the Southern Ocean. We are currently at 41 south and the temperatures are warm. No doubt this is all about to change.

‘It has been very easy to slip back into the onboard routine, its like we never left. Two weeks in Cape Town wasn’t long enough to get comfortable with shore life.

‘The forecast looks good for the future, fast sailing for quite a long time.’

Once the fleet hits the low pressure ridge in the south they can look forward to the sort of sleigh ride conditions they’ve all been waiting for before they track north for western tip of Australia en-route to Sydney.