Heading for Muckle Flugga

Calais Round Britain boats head around the top of Scotland

Positions at 1000

Pos	Boat	Lat	Longitude	SOG	COG	DTF	DTL
1	PRB	59 27.96' N	6 13.96' W	9.9	26	807.6	0
2	Bobst Group Armor Lux	59 29.76' N	6 17.44' W	9.4	25	808.9	1.4
3	Sill	59 21.40' N	6 26.52' W	9.1	23	811.4	3.8
4	Ecover	59 18.16' N	6 57.84' W	9.9	21	822.7	15.2
5	VMI	59 05.16' N	6 56.80' W	9.3	20	824	16.4
6	Team 888	58 49.24' N	7 31.28' W	8.9	31	857.7	50.1
7	Arcelor Dunkerque	58 02.08' N	8 32.32' W	6.8	13	912.6	105.1
8	Objectif 3	57 33.00' N	08 55.00' W	10.5	17	947.1	139.5
9	Garnier	56 59.96' N	8 35.60' W	10.9	354	970.8	163.2

24 hours ago, Vincent Riou on the Vendee Globe winner PRB won back in the lead of the Calais Round Britain Race from Bernard Stamm on the Around Alone winner Bobst Group-Armor Lux.

"We are trying to go quickly and lose as little time as possible knowing that Bernard (Stamm) and Bilou (Roland Jourdain) know their boats perfectly," said Riou. "That’s not our case! So it's not a secret - we’re working a lot."

The frontrunners have now rounded St Kilda and are bound for Muckle Flugga at the top of the Shetland Isles. The fleet have now divided into four groups with the three front runners separated by just four miles after five days of racing and with Ecover and VMI just a few miles behind, still contention. Ecover and PRB are to the northwest of the track where some forecasts indicate there to be more wind, however the wind is expected to veer to the southeast over the next 24 hours.

The fleet are once again back on the wind, which is blowing at 15-20 knots from the northeast.

From on board Sill this morning Roland Jourdain was complaining about the conditions. "The problem is that the sea has built up a little which is very tiring.We’re in contact with Bernard (Stamm) but it isn’t easy because the wind is changeable and the point of sail disagreeable with this infernal little chop. PRB got away from us at the end of yesterday afternoon without asking us! Once again, speed and vigilance are the order of the day. There is very, very little night. Earlier, it was midnight French time and it was not far off broad daylight here. The temperature has cooled down a bit too. The great blocks of black rock that make up Saint-Kilda are impressive and it must be rather severe here in bad weather. It must be something to live there."

At 0300 BST, VMI and Ecover were passing the Flannan islands, 21.6 and 21.8 miles from the leader at that time.

Earlier today Mike Golding reported that they were sailing in 16-17 knots in flat water under blue skies. "We've just crossed VMI and can see that they are on the opposite tack - they look about 1 mile behind. We saw Sill last night, but then lost them after that - this is a long section of the course and people are making very different choices on which part of the course to take. VMI are attached to us like a piece of string!"



Miranda Merron (left) and Brian Thompson on Ecover

Golding said that the race is taking its toll on the crew due to the close proximity of the racing. "The crews are being worked really hard and when they do get time off, they really need to sleep. It’s as much a question of maintenance on ourselves as on the boat. There are lots of different tactics over the racing - its really good racing and a classic race.”