Jelik leads China Sea Race

Day two of Hong Kong to Manila classic

30 hours into the 21st China Sea Race from Hong Kong to Manila, the field had really spread out, with leader Jelik 149 nm ahead of tail enders Beluga Free and Carillon. In the leading pack, Maligaya was 18 miles off the pace followed by Ffree Fire (-21nm) and Hi Fidelity (-25nm). Winds had still not picked up, although boats were predicting a shift in direction which might increase the pace. Jelik's current ETA based on the race to date is 00:31hrs 1 April.

Hocux Pocux II, Red Baron, Helsall II and Australian Maid form the honour guard to the leaders, while the remaining competitors are over 50nm behind Jelik.

Hocux Pocux II holds out hope for better racing conditions in days to come - as many of the boats have an ETA of Wednesday, it is hoped for the sake of the President's Cup that their faith is not misplaced!

"Still not too much wind, we are hoping for a big windshift to go from SW-S and then around to SE and hopefully in the next 24 hrs it may go all the way round to NE," Hocux Pocux II reported. "If it does go to NE the big question is if we are on the left and try to go downwind in light air it will be painful. However, if we are on the right hand side and the NE (If it comes!!) is strong, then we will be beating/fetching where others will be square with a spinnaker, tricky.

"We are still in the first 25% of the race, so the going is still pretty slow. TWD here is SW and windspeed is below 5 knots."