Paris Nears Salvador

Derek Hatfield has finally found warmer weather after a long time in the cold of the southern latitudes, but he has also found the light and fickle sailing that the other competitors encountered as they got closer to Brazil.

“Alan and Tim both warned me yesterday that the last thousand miles to Salvador would be frustrating and guess what, they are dead right,” he wrote. “I have had upwind conditions now for three full days and from the looks of the weather file, it will last another two days before I get any respite.” All the competitors found the last push to Salvador the toughest part of the leg and it’s likely that Derek will experience the same conditions.

To make matters worse Hatfield is having to sail with a reduced main. “Without a full mainsail it is just made all that more painful. But we are getting there, slowly but surely. The flying fish are back in huge schools. I found a very large one in the cockpit this morning. Other than them, I have not seen any other wildlife for a while. I remember this about the same latitude area on the way to Cape Town during Leg 2. The dolphins and other sea life seem to disappear in this part of the Atlantic.” Spirit of Canada has under 700 miles to go to the finish in Salvador. It’s hard to speculate on an ETA but if Derek is able to maintain his current speed he could arrive in Brazil during the day on Friday.

While Derek is anxious to get to Brazil, the rest of the Around Alone fleet are rapidly closing in on Newport. This morning Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group Armor lux had 490 miles to go. The weather for the next few days is anything but settled, but at this point it looks likely that he will arrived during daylight hours on Wednesday.

Newport Shipyard is once again abuzz with activity as hordes of journalists descend on the media center in anticipation of Stamm’s arrival. Banners are being hoisted and the Champagne Mumm is chilling on ice. No matter what time of day Bernard arrives, there is going to be a tumultuous welcome for this amazing sailor. For those people in Newport that want daily ETA updates, please tune in to 1540 WADK AM for the latest information. They will be updating ETA’s for all the arrivals. Otherwise stay tuned here and we will update the ETA’s as best we can with the information we have.

Source: Event Website