DAY 18 - Heading East Towards Cape of Good Hope
News - Thursday, 01/17/2001, 4:38 AM GMT

Position	01/17/2001 4:38 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (Increasing lead, first to reach the southern expressway, avg speed 22.2 knots)
2nd	Team Adventure (180 nm from the leader. Tracking Club Med, avg speed 17.4 knots)
3rd	Innovation Explorer (810 nm from the leader. In light air, avg speed 9.0 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (1655 nm from leader. In the trade winds, avg speed 14.3 knots)
5th	Team Legato (2578 nm from the leader. Heading into light winds, avg speed 9.9 knots)
6th	PlayStation (2830 nm from the leader. RETIRED, on the way to Miami, avg speed 8.9 knots)

Navigationally: the maxi-cats set off west to get out of the Mediterranean, then due south down the Atlantic and now they must head east towards Cape of Good Hope.

Sandy, the Australian member of the race committee: 'Usually, round-the-world races head towards the Cape of Good Hope much sooner. This time they have passed just off Tristan da Cunha, which you don’t normally see. The high has forced them into it and they may face stronger swell and winds than they were expecting'.

Club Med left the high pressure system around 2 AM GMT. Her sails are now filled by a low pressure system from the south. Club Med managed to reach the southern expressway first and is stretching out the gap between herself and the two following Ollier ships. Team Adventure is following Club Med to get into the wind.

David Adams at Race HQ. 'He tacked at about 10.00 PM GMT and came round to a course which enabled him to pick up speed. He managed to hold that run for about two hours before tacking again and coming back on to the right course, getting the benefit of the low pressure.'

Team Adventure is clearly a faster boat, however Club Med's navigation is working for her.

Innovation Explorer's reacher looks like a mosaic with all the patching. She has navigated further west, time will tell as to how this impacts her positioning.

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

Innovation Explorer is in turqoise Club Med in yellow Team Adventure is green

PlayStation is in red Warta is orange Team Legato is blue

Warta Polpharma is making good speed.

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

Team Legato is now just above the equator, and has set her sights on Warta Polpharma. The team is taking advantage of the calm conditions to perform some minor repairs.

"We have had to change a halyard, repair a winch and sort out some problems with a rope clutch. Everyone is throwing themselves at doing everything to keep our bows heading south and a trailing wake astern," said Bullimore.

Team Legato celebrated Tony Bullimore's birthday yesterday with champagne and a fine dinner. Today the prepare to celebrate the birthday of watch leader Paul Larsen.

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