Race 1 - Day 27
Crew Diary - London, UK to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
27 September

Ruth Charles
Ruth Charles
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Live from Derry~Londonderry~Doire - Rio within 30 miles.

The last 24 hours have been intense as the battle royal with GREAT Britain continues unabated.

Having had a lead at the beginning of the period, a painful transit through a wind hole brought GREAT Britain back alongside.

This has been the case for the best part of Saturday, trading tacks and gybes along the way.

At this minute (early Sunday morning) we are in pursuit of the competition, just a relative 'hairsbreadth' away.

The wind is flukey and we are looking for every opportunity to close the gap.

Split gybes around Ilhas Marcias could be the telling call.

Correction – GREAT Britain has now gybed out.

Speed differentials are telling. What next?

Other traffic is now coming into play as the shipping lanes converge into Rio.

Efforts and concentration on deck are of the highest order.

Manoeuvres are executed with precision, trying to eke out the maximum capability of the Derry~Londonderry~Doire Flyer.

After more than 5700 nautical miles this little duel has still some way to go.

This is better than any video game.

Separation has now compressed to 1 nM when only half an hour earlier it was 3 nM.

Some way to go and plenty to play for.

Hope you are all watching this on Race Viewer.

Must dash now back to the Nav Station to monitor progression.

The outcome should be known in the next 2-3 hours - wind conditions prevailing.

And welcome Rio.

Go ‘LegenDerry!’