Ronnie Simpson has committed to his pitstop in Hobart to attend to sail repairs, fixing the primary autopilot (which has not worked from the first night of his circumnavigation) and other issues he wants to address before taking on the second half of his journey. Hobart is in fact just about exactly halfway on the route from A Coruna to A Coruna. Ronnie’s pitstop will leave Cole Brauer with a very solid 1400+ Nautical Miles lead on Riccardo Tosetto who set off on the same date and is also sailing a Class40. The gap between Cole and Philippe Delamare keeps reducing and stands now at 3500 Nautical Miles. However in relative terms the time on time difference has been fairly constant and especially after Cole Brauer experienced a knock-down, injury to her ribs, followed by autopilot issues. Her more cautious approach to ensuring she does not run into any technical problems has allowed Philippe to manage, maintain and, as the weeks pass, consolidate his fully deserved lead. It would however be naive to think that a circumnavigation where boats are approximately halfway round the course is over and the rankings final! The weather and technical issues lottery can catch anyone off guard at any time as we all root for our favourite skippers.
