At 1444 GMT Grant Dalton confirmed by email that they have picked up the medical supplies that were dropped for the aid of ill Keith Kilpatrick, who is suffering from a stomach illness onboard Amer Sports One.
"Thank you for a very well performed coordination of this mission. The Orion [plane] arrived smack on time at 1300 GMT and dropped, all in all, seven packages. Sea conditions were good with 13 knots of wind from the west. All packages were successfully retrieved. We used the mainsail and the engine for the pickups. The operation was finished at 1332 GMT and Orion returned home. Looks like we have all we need for Keith [Kilpatrick]." said Dalton. Amer Sports One continues to race to the Australian coast to get Kilpatrick to hospital as soon as possible.
In the meantime the fierce battle for the lead in Leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race continues. 24 hours ago there were two different views on short-term tactics among the navigators. Marcel van Triest of leading yacht SEB opted for a northerly approach, splitting from the main pack even though they were ahead by 16 miles over illbruck. ASSA ABLOY, illbruck, djuice and News Corp went to the east instead. Now the yachts converge towards a point on 100 E and are all within 16 miles. Looks like a restart of leg 2 for them.
Amer Sports Too is in stronger conditions still and they make up lost distance, averaging five knots higher speed than leading SEB.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 12, 1600 GMT:
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 TSEB 45 55.96S 099 38.60E 02861 087 11.5 260 0 +0 02 DEC 01 11
2 ILBK 46 11.24S 099 48.08E 02864 037 13.0 270 3 -13 02 DEC 01 15
3 AART 46 03.68S 099 34.32E 02868 037 12.6 278 7 -9 02 DEC 01 10
4 DJCE 46 12.68S 099 36.44E 02871 045 12.5 284 10 -16 02 DEC 01 7
5 NEWS 46 12.44S 099 25.64E 02877 063 11.3 282 16 -9 02 DEC 01 10
6 AONE 44 32.92S 093 58.80E 03043 060 11.0 289 182 -3 03 DEC 01 10
7 ATOO 48 08.04S 086 18.96E 03411 084 15.3 326 550 -32 04 DEC 01 3
8 TYCO 33 58.00S 025 38.12E