AS the leaders keep pushing south the South Atlantic high really is not playing ball.

The boats are all heading to their first south ocean gate which is at 42s 001e, basically south-east of the leaders, but the South Atlantic high pressure with its light winds is blocking the route.

Currently the entire fleet is heading south in 15 to 20 knots of wind waiting and hoping the high pressure plays in their favour and allows them to cut the corner and start heading towards the first gate.

This situation has been very stable since the boats crossed the doldrums which means that we are unlikely to see any big changes in the next three or four days.

In a normal South Atlantic situation we would expect the leaders to get to the south of the high pressure, hit their first southern ocean depression and hightail it east making large gains on those behind, basically the rich would get richer and poor, poorer.

This does not look like it will happen, in fact the opposite will happen, the leaders will lose miles and those behind will have the opportunity to catch up.

This is because as the leaders get to the high pressure, their route will be slowed by the light winds but it will then move to the NE allowing those behind to cut the corner and take a more direct route covering less miles towards the first gate.

The further behind you are the more of an advantage this could be.

Tomorrow evening we should start to see the lead group slowed a little before they pick up speed again Friday morning but come Saturday they will run into the high pressure while those behind are reaching fast and starting to cut the corner.

The prospect of a large group at the start of the southern ocean is very exciting.