I gained on those who went before I did but then lost the distance back when I got there. The wind speed through the doldrums is a little better for the next 12 hours than when I got through. the wind south of the doldrums is pretty week, but worse than that, it is solidly out of the SE and that means beating beyond the scoring gate and then bearing off to the SW for the first reach out of there. This makes heading towards the cape a direct upwind issue as in the wind is coming straight from the cape. OH Well, sometimes you gain, sometimes you loose.