Race 14 Update: The Barometer is rising

The barometer is rising and not only in the nav station.

Race 14, the final race in this 40, 000 nautical mile epic around the world challenge, is well underway and there's an unfamiliar look to the ranking as the fleet navigate around the north coast of Ireland.

UNICEF lead, having put in a shift that has given the team a 15 nm advantage over Our Isles and Ocean in second and PSP Logistics in third.

But the pressure indicator on the barometer is rising and this means we should see a drop in the wind for the next 24 hours, before the barometric needle swings the opposite direction with the arrival of a new low. Our weather guru Simon Rowell sent this to the boats this morning: "That small secondary should arrive tomorrow with a welcome direction change. It’s not so much a secondary low as a disturbance in the force, but it should be useful."

But all eyes will be on the battle for the overall victory in this 2023-2024 edition which will be decided within the next few days. Overall leader Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, although in an unusual spot down in eighth place, has its closest rival Perseverance, which is just 3 points behind on the leaderboard, behind in ninth. Albeit by under a mile. But just ahead of both of teams in fifth is Zhuhai, which is fighting for the overall win from third place, seven points behind the leaders.

It's important not to forget there are a few other important battles for final positions also at stake, like current Race 14 leader UNICEF which is fifth overall, one point behind Dare to Lead in fourth. The other closely fought race is between Yacht Club Punta del Este on 87 points in eighth and Our Isles and Oceans on 90 points in seventh. While to us it may only be a single position up the overall ladder, to the teams it's symbolic of the effort they have put into their racing over the past 11 months.

With not that many tactical options on the short race from Oban to Portsmouth it's going to be a race to see who has the most left in the bottle during this one final push to the end.

We'll leave you with this short message from our OBR Tiger on board Perseverance "Morale pretty good now as the wind has picked up. There's a good amount of giggling on board despite the less than ideal position. It seems Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam's tactic is to try and cover us all the way to Portsmouth. Bring on the caffeine"