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10:24 AM Sat 24 Jan 2009 GMT
The gain is small and it is theoretical. It is the fact that he is now nearly as quick as leader Michel Desjoyeaux this morning which finally be giving some satisfaction to Roland Jourdain.
With the Azores High blocking the direct route, the pair are making a NW'ly course. Hence as they move further west, diverging away from the theoretical, direct route to avoid the centre of the 'road block' - the lightest winds - so a small mileage gain falls to Jourdain by virtue of the fact that he is closer to the direct course to Cape Finisterre.
The skipper of Veolia Environnment is a knot slower this morning than Desjoyeaux and 524.4 in arrears.
150 miles south of the Equator Armel Le Cl?ac'h should be in the Doldrums conditions, but the weather for him seem less haphazard and while his speeds have been down they have remained consistently steady. He is 506 miles behind behind Veolia Evnironnement.
Still struggling in the absence of anything resembling the normal trade winds Marc Guillemot (Safran) and Sam Davies (Roxy) continue to do their own thing. The Breton is sticking close to the coast 30 miles off Brazil and his speeds have varied with the intensity of the thermal help. More than 200 miles out to sea Davies is still struggling in high pressure, frustrated at the absence of the trade-winds which were so beneficial for Desjoyeaux and Jourdain. Trapped by the lighter for nearly four days now, Brian Thompson's advance has seen the Bahrain Team Pindar reduce his deficit to Roxy to just 350 miles, from over 1000 miles at Cape Horn.
Similarly Steve White has been one of the skippers who has done well to stay with the bands of pressure. He has made more nearly 250 miles on Arnuad Boissi?res who was still making just 6.6 knots this morning to Toe in the Water's 12.4.
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message.'I have had a very special day today. I think being alone at sea allowed me to celebrate my birthday with more people than I would have at home. I had messages and phone calls from other skippers, messages from friends and family as well as an overwhelming number from supporters following the race and Aviva's progress. The team had stashed some presents and numerous cards onboard so I was able to open them and enjoy the fact that a present was a chocolate sponge pudding and a bottle of diet coke. They both tasted fantastic but were over way too quick. The other present was the fact that the wind filled in this morning. Probably a couple of hours after Brian on Pindar which explains his get away, but Aviva has been sailing a great pace all day in the right direction. Blue skies with fluffy clouds have surrounded us and the sea has been smooth making it comfortable sailing. My only concern is listening to the fluttering of the repair I did the other day on the mainsail blowing in the wind, as half of it has come unstuck and now it will need to wait a couple of days for the right conditions to drop the main and fix it again. Still while we are making good progress it reduces the number of days my mainsail needs to last for!'
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message.'After yet another agonisingly slow day, I really do hope that we have finally hooked into the Easterly trade winds. The wind certainly does not do what it is forecast to do, as instead of 10-15 knots, today I had a frustrating 2-4 knots all day. As you can imagine, it has been tough for the morale as I have seen more miles evaporate away as Roxy wallows around and everyone else speeds on forwards. I had a music session on my ipod at dusk, to try to forget my frustrations. I discovered some good songs, amongst others, from Queen's greatest hits that worked well 'The Show Must Go On', 'Killer Queen'..... Now I have found my ten knots of wind, although difficult at first as I passed through a line of squalls that shifted the wind more than 100 degrees several times. It is pitch black and I have just been on deck trimming the sails for the next squall cloud and I was surprised by a very cheeky black bird who is sitting on my coachroof, just a meter away from me. I squawked back at him, which made him flap his wings a bit, but he stood his ground and carried on staring at me as if to say 'get on with your job and stop staring at me'. But I couldn't help giving him a big blast of torch light right in the eyes just to show who really is the boss!'
0400 HRS GMT. Rankings, Saturday 24th January 2009
(FRA unless stated) :
1 . Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) at 2480 miles to finish
2 . Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) at 524.4 miles from first place
3 . Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) at 1030.2 miles from first place
4 . Marc Guillemot (Safran) at 2003.4 miles from first place
5 . Sam Davies (Roxy) at 2168.8 miles from first place
6 . Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) at 2510.3 miles from first place
7 . Dee Caffari (Aviva) at 2612.1 miles from first place
8 . Arnaud Boissi?res (Akena V?randas) at 2852.3 miles from first place
9 . Steve White (Toe in the water) at 3687.8 miles from first place
10 . Rich Wilson (Great American III) at 5214.9 miles from first place
11 . Rapha?l Dinelli (Fondation Oc?an Vital) at 70001.7 miles from first place
12 . Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport - Kapsch) at 7065.8 miles from first place
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