Vendee Globe - 1330 - 19/1/01

By Sunday morning (right) that high pressure will be dominating the race track and the fortunes of the leading six. It will muscle its way east across the South Atlantic, where it will eventually join with the declining eastern high to take up its rightful position straddling its eponymous ocean.

As it does so, the light air in the centre will roll across the course, and those skippers who can spend the least time in this area, and the most time in the downwind conditions of the eastern side of the high, will fare best in the next two or three days.

Easier said than done, and looking north of that high, there is very little to cheer up Michel Desjoyeaux. The south-easterly trade winds seem to be receding away from him just as fast as he can get north. Challenging times indeed.

Map images courtesy of Virtual Spectator, click here to go to the VS site.

Please note that two different methods of calculating the Distance to Finish are being used, one by Virtual Spectator and one by the Vendee Globe Race Office, we will try to always make it clear which we are using!

Link to the madforsailing form guide.

Rankings (0900 GMT except where stated, Friday 19/1, with Distances to Finish from Race Office)

1 PRB (Desjoyeaux) (at 07:01 GMT) 33.2S 30.6W 5202 nm
2 Kingfisher (MacArthur) 36.5S 38.3W +305 nm
3 Active Wear (Thiercelin) (at 08:02 GMT) 40.5S 36.4W +516 nm
4 SILL Matines La Potagère (Jourdain) (at 08:01 GMT) 41.3S 44W +639 nm
5 Sodebo (Coville) 43.1S 48.4W +829 nm
6 Union Bancaire Privée (Wavre) (at 08:17 GMT) 45.2S 48.4W +930 nm
7 Whirlpool (Chabaud) 52.2S 61.5W +1666 nm
8 EBP EspritPME Gartmore (Hall) (at 08:01 GMT) 55.1S 72.1W +2118 nm
9 Team Group 4 (Golding) (at 08:01 GMT) 56.3S 90.1W +2671 nm
10 Voila.fr (Gallay) 56.3S 90.5W +2704 nm
11 VM Matériaux (Carpentier) 56.4S 90.5W +2707 nm
12 Nord Pas de Calais - Chocolats du Monde (Seeten) 55.3S 99.5W +3016 nm