It's been a slow motion 24 hours for Francesca on 11th Hour Racing and the bulk of the IMOCA fleet. They have been becalmed for long periods and Francesca averaged only 1.9 knots [2.2mph | 3.52 kmh] of boat speed over the last 24 hours, covering just 45.6 nautical miles [52.5 miles | 84.5km].
Happily over the past few hours the wind has started to slowly build and Francesca is now sailing at around 4 knots [4.6mph | 7.4 kmh] in a very shifty breeze of around 5 knots [5.75mph | 9.3 kmh].
"It's a tricky night - the wind is really up and down, but at least I'm moving, which is good," she told her shore team in a voice note early this morning. "The wind is already in an easterly direction, but it's still really light and really shifty. But at least it's not zero, so that's better than yesterday."
Further south, the wind held up better for leader Corentin Horeau (MACSF), other than in the notorious wind shadow west of Guadeloupe's high mountains. He stretched away from the chasing IMOCAs to finish at 0614 French time this morning and completed the 3,542 nautical mile [4,076 mile | 6,560km] course in 9 days, 17 hours and 12 minutes, slicing more than two days off the race record.
"Corent...