With one boat, PlayStation, already there with sail problems, Warta-Polpharma has announced that they will be stopping for Inmarsat B problems. Finally, Team Legato also intends calling in for a problem with their mainsail headboard. Thankfully for them, the weather conditions should not let the leading boats get too far ahead. They have now left and are still sailing to windward. Indeed, the three leading boats who were sliding south, have all tacked and are trying to gain to the west to pick up the south-westerly wind expected this coming Friday.
Small options can pay off.
Whilst Warta-Polpharma has scheduled a stop in Gibraltar to repair their Inmarsat B station that is not working, the Polish boat will not be penalised, because they will not be receiving any assistance. So they will be able to leave again straight away. In fact the choice of a route along the Spanish coast can be explained by the fact that we didn't want to expose the boat to rough sea conditions to windward. So Tony Bullimore1s boat is also scheduled to make a stop in Gibraltar to repair what appears to be more of a hardware problem than a problem with the sail itself. Suffice to say that the Englishman's boat will be subjected to the famous 48 hour penalty.