New Zealand skipper Grant Dalton has stopped looking behind him and is now peering forward to the finish line and victory in the round-the-world non-stop The Race.
Dalton's giant catamaran, Club Med, crossed the equator last night and set a course for the French port of Marseilles, which Dalton reckons could
be just 10 days away.
His only real rival remaining in contention, Innovation Explorer, was almost 1200 miles behind yesterday.
As the buffer continued to grow between the two boats, it looked as though only a disaster could rob Club Med of victory.
Dalton yesterday praised his two weather men - on and off the boat - for getting Club Med through the notorious sailing minefield off the South American coast.
New Zealand navigator Mike Quilter and Australian meteorologist Roger "Clouds" Badham have been e-mailing each other 20 times a day during the event to locate the best winds.
"Clouds has locked himself in his house in the bush in Sydney since the race started," Dalton said.
"He just aims us where he wants us to go from the other side of the world. Mike still makes the final call on the boat, but it's a credit to them where we are today."
Club Med was on the edge of the Doldrums last night, but Dalton felt that the boat was far enough west to escape too much trouble - and he expected things to get better.
"We've spotted a big low developing in the mid-Atlantic - we might be able to jump on the bottom of it and get a good ride right up to Gibraltar," he said.
Further back in the fleet, Team Adventure and Warta Polpharma were back racing in angry seas after leaving their pitstops in Wellington.
Team Legato was still in port but expected to leave tomorrow with just seven crew, after three left the boat in Wellington.
Meanwhile, Frenchwoman Catherine Chabaud has had to call it quits in the single-handed circumnavigation Vendee Globe after losing her mast a day from the finish.
Chabaud was dismasted off the coast of Spain after 102 days and decided to turn on her engine, ruling her out of the race.
