Rhythm of the Race A screaming fast starboard tack (Raphael Dinelli: "Now, I am in a squall and hitting 15-17 knots.") passage down the coast of Morocco.  Soon the Canary Islands.  Occasional storm clouds scramble things as boats are occasionally becalmed as Marc Thiercelin on Active Wear reports: "I am becalmed right now."

Standings table 

Top 3

1.  Aquitaine Innovations Yves Parlier 33:1 North 15:1 West
2.  PRB Michel Desjoyeaux 32:5 North 14:3 West + 8 miles a 2 mile gain
3. Sill Roland Jourdain 33:3 North 15:2 West +34 Miles an 18 mile gain.

Fleet round up section 

Aquitaine Innovations is the leader and expects to arrive at the mandatory waypoint which is positioned 2 miles out to the North East of Gran Canaria Island tomorrow afternoon.

Bernard Stamm sailing Superbigou is 8th 98 miles from 1st.  He is the farthest west of the boats at the front.  His longitude is 12° west.  Most of the boats ahead of him are at 14 or 15 degrees west.  Stamm feels he is in error, "I think I haven’t made a good strategy in terms of my position according to the weather."

The top 11 boats are all 1998 or newer, except for the leader Aquitain Innovations.  11th is Theirry Dubois 109 miles back.  62 more miles back is Eric Durmont's Euroka.  This boat won the Vendee Globe in 1992 as Bagages Superior sailed by Alain Gautier as a ketch.  Early in the race the former winner is being outpaced by the newer, lighter designs.  Dumont recognizes these differences reporting, "In one sense my position can be explained because my boat is heavy."

Skipper Communications  

Raphael Dinelli Sogal Extenso "It’s been quite physical for the last two days, descending the coast line rapidly with frequent gusts."

Patrick de Radiguès La Libre Belgique "Last night I sailed along the Portugese coastline to get the wind."

Fedor Konioukhov Modern University for the Humanities ". Since the start, I sailed with main sail and staysail. This week I will try to find optimal tactic, to get good speed with the sails I have with me."

Yves Parlier Aquitaine Innovations ""It’s my Birthday today - 40 years old! I have had loads of presents but still haven’t got round to opening any yet."

Eric Dumont Euroka "Still not totally acclimatised, which is surprising really, but perhaps it has been a while since I have been racing solo."

March Thiercelin Active Wear "The positions of the fleet don’t surprise me - I am a pretty annoyed of course that I am not where I wanted to be!"

Bernard Stamm Armor Lux - Foies Gras Bizac "Things are looking up since yesterday, and I am under spinnaker in an unstable NW wind going along at 12 knots. Last night I had every sail configuration going up!"

Dominique Wavre Union Bancaire Privée ". I took the Westerly route and last night had my spinnaker up for 8/9 hours, gybing often, because the wind was so variable, both gusts of 30 knots as well as dead patches."

Catherine Chabaud Whirlpool "the weather is very changeable. I didn’t stop pushing the boat overnight as the wind varied between 5 and 25 knots."

Ellen Macarthur Kingfisher "There are several cargo ships around, one just passed behind me - heading out into the midst of the Atlantic. Funny as he headed west I felt a little surge of excitement for him, that he was off once again on another passage."

Josh Hall Gartmore "The wind swings through an arc of 70 degrees constantly, which makes trimming and steering a constant demand."

Current weather conditions When there's wind NW.  When there's not, the wind is from around the compass.  

Weather Forecast The fitful NW winds will continue to challenge the sailors.

What does it all mean

The new generation boats have gone to the front as expected.  Time will tell if any of the older 60's, or any of the 50's can stay in contention.