Brief respite

As wind temporarily frees up for Calais Round Britain Open 60s

Positions at 1800

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	SOG	COG	DTF	DTL
1	Bobst Group Armor Lux	54 12.28' N	10 19.60' W	11.5	12	1150.1	0
2	Sill	54 07.64' N	10 21.40' W	11.3	10	1154.1	4
3	PRB	54 05.64' N	10 23.48' W	11.7	12	1156.3	6.2
4	VMI	54 04.36' N	10 23.72' W	11.5	12	1157.6	7.5
5	Ecover	53 57.64' N	10 23.40' W	10.5	6	1164.1	14
6	Team 888	53 39.68' N	10 28.80' W	10.8	7	1182.4	32.3
7	Arcelor Dunkerque	53 03.64' N	10 42.60' W	9.6	11	1219.3	69.2
8	Objectif 3	52 54.00' N	10 38.00' W	9.3	10	1226	75.9
9	Garnier	51 42.52' N	10 45.24' W	7.8	268	1305.1	155

Over the course of today, the forecast has changed and the wind freed a little (as the satellite wind image shows) giving the boat a speedier run up the remainder of the west coast of Ireland on port tack.

At present the boats are feeling the affects of two depressions on situated over the UK, the other centred 850 due west out in the middle of the Atlantic. While the northwesterlies they are experiencing at the moment are the effect of the former depression, their respite looks likely to be brief as over the course of tomorrow the wind looks set to head them once again and go light. So from the present drag race, it will revert to being an upwind tactical battle.

Bernard Stamm on Bobst Group-Armor Lux continues to hang on to the lead and at the 1800 sched had pulled out a four mile lead over second-placed Sill. Sill navigator Gaël Le Cléach spoke vividly of the close contact sport the top four boats were having. “We spent a lot of last night helming in the cross seas with our comrades upwind and downwind. At one point we were all sailing in a line with PRB but I think they must have gone off to bake bread as they’ve dropped back. We’ve crossed a big bay (Dingle) and there are stacks of lighthouses – I don’t know how they do it! We had a fair amount of wind last night and it’s not always easy to anticipate what is going to happen. The conditions are already starting to ease but the seas are fairly big."

At 1700 hours Sill reports that they had torn their solent this afternoon across 4-5 metres from the centre out to the clew. They quickly furled it in and replaced it with a staysail but they will have to wait until conditions are right before they can spread it out on deck and sew it back together. The crew are very disappointed.

From on board four-placed VMI, navigator Isabelle Autissier also spoke of boats being just tens of metres downwind of them. PRB and VMI have not left each others sides since yesterday. “At each mark of the course, the race starts again. It’s just like the Figaro."

Fifth placed Golding commented on how the race on Ecover was going: "I’m not worried at all about our position. We’re all so close I can see the others and it’s probably easier to catch up from behind when they fall into holes. We’re making our way up the coastline and doing our best to maximise the performance of the boat. A little lift in the wind would help. We’ve been quite conservative with sails, sailing under a double-reef and trinquette, but we will be putting up more in a bit - we might get the solent up soon. The sea is pretty smooth and it’s been pretty grey and overcast, but things are getting a bit cheerier now. We’ve seen some wonderful parts of Southern Ireland, its really quite impressive.”