Rhythm of the Race After a nite of being pounded sailing upwind, the fleet is now scooting down wind at the front of a NW wind.  Fastest in the fleet is Roland Jourdain's Sill showing a speed of 17.1 knots.

Standings table 

Top 3

1.  Aquitaine Innovations Yves Parlier 37:2 North 13:3 West
2.  PRB Michel Desjoyeaux 37.4:2 North 13:4 West + 10 miles
3. Sill Roland Jourdain 38:1 North 13 West +52 Miles

Courtesy of Virtual Spectator an image of the fleet along the Spanish Coast.  

 Fleet round up section 

Aquitaine Innovations still tops the leader board.  Belying his lead Yves Parlier reports, ". I am totally in synch with the boat and the race, very happy to be where I am."

Opposite Parlier is Patrick De Radigues who has not yet rounded Cape Finistere.  He struggled through the front in his 50 footer and trails the leader by 431 miles.  His boat Lightning won Class II in this summer's Quebec/St. Malo, so look for Patrick to catch up.

Roland Jourdain has pushed Sill onto the leader board.  This after having to return to port to repair a severed halyard.  Sill is the fastest in the fleet currently.  At one point Jourdain was 13 hours/ 100+ miles behind.  Just days into the race this gap is erased.

Group 4's spare mast has arrived in Spain.  Mike Golding plans to restart on Friday.

Skipper Communications  

Josh Hall Gartmore "At around 0300UTC the front passed and the wind immediately shifted Northwest allowing me to tack, set full sail and at last head south at speed on direct course for the Canaries. With the boat settled and running hard at 16-20kts I got some sleep."

Bernard Gallay Voila.Fr ".I didn’t make the right choice at all by staying the furthest East."

Richard Tolkein This Time Argos Soditic  "The swivel unit attachment at the top of the running forestay has broken but I have been speaking to Harken about repairing it using Kevlar rope."

Didier Munduteguy (DDP - 60e Sud) "I am slowly getting myself going, and had a bit of sea-sickness when the front passed through."

Michel Desjoyeaux PRB "I have 25-30 knots from the NNW and the boat is progressing well between 15-20 knots."

Yves Parlier Aquitaine Innovations "In terms of the whole race, re-planning my personal goals after the delayed start, I expect to arrive in Les Sables on the 11th February with 99 days under my belt."

Patrice Carpentier VM Matériaux  "My alarm doesn’t stop ringing with all the cargo ships around."

Thierry Dubois Solidares "I don’t want to be ahead at all costs and risk damaging the boat at all. The main aim is to get the boat round to the finish and that way I should guarantee a good ranking!"

Thomas Coville Sobedo "92 miles! I didn’t realise teh gap was that big. Well, it’s a long course and for this point at Cap Finisterre they won the bet going nearer to the shore."


Current weather conditions NW winds Force 5 allowing double digit downwind speeds.

Weather Forecast The steady NW winds should continue to push the boats rapidly towards the Canary Islands.

What does it all mean

The 1000 miles to the Canaries should take 3-5 days.  Winds will be steady, but there will still be shifts on which to make gains.  With the fleet drag racing off the wind those who want to push hard will be able to gain some miles.