Barcelona World Race

Eight of nine boats have crossed the equator. The fleet is now on the Brazilian side of the Atlantic after being off the African coast earlier.

PRB's lead is a scant 6 miles at last report. With over 21,000 miles still to sail Paprec Vibrac 2 is sailing at 15.3 knots to close the gap. To PRB's Vincent Riou 1st or 2nd is all the same to him , "The two boats in the lead have an advantage; it is important to be in that leading group but not necessarily to be in first place. It is our priority now not to make any major mistakes."

It's definitely trade wind sailing Sidney Gavignet reports, "The autopilot is doing great, steering straight and creating apparent wind. We haven't steered for more than a day now, we only adjust the main sheet from time to time with a steady wind direction."

Ahead is some more rail like trade wind sailing and then a call as to when to when to turn west and skirt the St. Helena high and then "finally we will be down in to the great south – the cold, the action, the reason we have come here…The worst thing is that in a month’s time when we have our three polar layers of clothing..." say Veolia.