By JULIE ASH
It may be beautiful sailing, but progress in the round-the-world race is frustratingly slow.
Team Tyco lead the eight-boat fleet in the Volvo-sponsored ocean event, as the North Atlantic continues to throw up light conditions for the yachts making their way to Cape Town on the first of the
nine legs.
A northerly seven to eight-knot breeze is pushing the leading five yachts - Tyco, ASSA Abloy, News Corp, Amer Sports One and illbruck - towards the equator at a touch above the wind speed.
The News Corp skipper, New Zealander Ross Field, no stranger to ocean racing, said coping with the frustrating conditions was the most stressful part of ocean racing.
"Give me 35 knots in the Southern Ocean, dodging icebergs, blasting downhill, any time," he said.
"The stress of getting a tenth of a knot of boat speed from the boat, making sure the crew whisper when talking and walking around quietly, making sure that the exact wind angles are being sailed ...
"The list goes on and all the crew are dying for the moment when you hear the water start moving against the hull and the breeze increases."
While Tyco and ASSA Abloy place their faith in a westerly course, illbruck have split from Amer Sports One and Team News Corp and are now 17 miles to the east.
They are looking to sail away from the clouds that have dogged the fleet for two days.
In the far east (230 miles to the east again of illbruck), Marcel Van Triest's tactics, inadvertently brought on by a pit stop off Madeira, have seen SEB sail into the most favourable conditions.
For several hours, they consistently had seven to eight knots more breeze (average 15 knots) and with it an extra two to three knots of boat speed (average 11 knots).
At the rear of the fleet, Lisa McDonald's all-woman team on Amer Sports Too are having a torrid time.
McDonald, who has three New Zealanders - Sharon Ferris, Keryn Henderson and Bridget Suckling - on board, is battling with only 2-3 knots of boat and wind speed.
The frontrunners are expected to arrive in Cape Town on October 23.
