It's sliding in the southern hemisphere
For this first crossing of the Equator, Romain and Alex gathered at the chart table last night to share this symbolic moment together, and to respect the famous tradition of the offering to Neptune. "It's the first time for me! It is more symbolic than impressive, but it solidifies the first part of this journey. In our minds, this route is divided into several stages, and this particular one is important. It is the culmination of many aspects of the challenge, which are becoming more concrete every day…we are in the right direction! After the horrors of the Doldrums (which we we were not spared from yesterday!), we are lucky to have good sliding conditions this morning. We are progressing around 15 knots towards Brazil, and we hope that this second part up to Cape Horn will go faster. Cape Horn is the most feared passage, and the one for which we have been preparing for months. All is going well with “Use It Again!”…the sailors too! We are happy and motivated for the future! ““Indicates Romain Pilliard this morning.
As for Alex Pella, he no longer counts his crossings of the Equator.“Between 20 and 25 times" specifies the Spaniard who has already crossed it several times in the Atlantic, as well as, in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific!
After almost 12 days of racing on this attempt at the “Round the World Record in Reverse”, Romain and Alex are 724 miles ahead of Jean-Luc Van Den Heede's reference time. A lead that should increase over the following days. "They're going to hit moderate E-SE winds of 10 to 15 knots up to the latitude of Rio. It should then turn north, with stronger downwind conditions for the coming week. It will do them good! For my part, I'm starting to look at what can happen from 40th South, for the moment. The models diverge a lot for the passage of Cape Horn, "says Christian Dumard, router and meteorologist ofUse It Again! in its weather point at midday.