Golden Globe Race The Lead Is Narrowing Further

The apparently impossible lead that has been held by Den Heede in the race, Golden Globe is seemingly insurmountable no longer.

Mark Slats covered the Cape Horn on December 2, before 06:00 UTC. He is eight days back Van Den Heede still, Slats has reduced the dominance of 351 miles in a week’s time. The Dutchman who was in the second place is now in the range of 1022 miles and wants the average of 0.75 knots quicker to end his race in d’Olonne.

This takes the penalty of 18-hour that Van Den Heede have to serve and he has to serve this penalty just before crossing the line where he could use the satellite phone he has but not used for the non-safety requirements after developing huge damage to his Rustler 36 Matmut around four weeks back.

After that, the Frenchman who is now 73-year has gone up in the mast for five times for checking repairs that are holding up good he said. While the Frenchman had no doubts on pushing his boat at the time when the wind is right and at the aft of the beam. He said he has to nurse the rig upwind in-order to save the boat from slamming as well as sending shockwaves at the mast.

Just before covering the Horn, Mark said that he is close to winning the race. He said, Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick is being pushed the hardest he could. He could push it as hard as he can take the risk. And expect that the lead he has taken will be enough. He said, right now his priority is to finish the race without hurting his mast or letting it break.

In the next 24 hours, this gap is going to get narrow further because Mark is enjoying favorable winds.