Survival of the fittest

As Challenge Mondial fleet head for Gibraltar

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	SOG	COG	Time of fix	DTF	DTL
1	Groupama	36 51.96' N	8 26.58' W	21	104	13/05/2003 22:00	1745	0
2	Banque Populaire	36 47.10' N	8 37.14' W	22.2	112	13/05/2003 23:00	1772	26.8
3	Géant	37 12.96' N	9 11.36' W	20.1	204	13/05/2003 22:30	1805	59.4
4	Belgacom	37 10.14' N	9 04.74' W	19.8	131	14/05/2003 00:00	1825	79.4
5	Bayer CropScience	37 19.02' N	9 38.34' W	21.6	206	14/05/2003 00:00	1844	99
6	Bonduelle	38 19.02' N	9 30.12' W	21.4	150	14/05/2003 00:00	1897	152
7	Gitana	38 42.18' N	10 01.74' W	19.9	145	14/05/2003 00:00	1927	182
8	Banque Covefi	39 30.18' N	10 13.86' W	17.3	217	13/05/2003 23:00	1960	215
9	Sopra Group	39 39.90' N	10 05.16' W	15.5	207	13/05/2003 23:01	1967	221
10	Sergio Tacchini	39 34.38' N	10 27.42' W	14.9	147	14/05/2003 00:01	1981	236
11	Sodebo	42 55.40' N	9 41.60' W	23.6	193	13/05/2003 22:30	2140	394

Positions at 0200

Earlier this morning the leading 60ft trimarans in the Challenge Mondial Assistance had rounded Cape St Vincent off the southwestern tip of Portugal and still had 150 miles to go before passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

For more than a day now the boats have been humming and as the table above shows all the front runners are sailing at speeds in excess of 20 knots as they gybe downwind in the 25-30 north northeasterly breeze.

However all good things come to an end and over the course of this morning as the front runners approach Gibraltar they will be headed by a dropping breeze setting their ETA into the Mediterranean sometime this afternoon or early evening.

Despite the positions being taken at different times once again, the latest information shows that the leaders now have some separation between them. Franck Cammas' Groupama, winner of the recent Grand Prix in Lorient has pulled ahead of Lalou Roucayrol's team on Banque Populaire who holds a similar 20+ mile lead over third placed Geant, skippered by Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux.

Bring up the rear following her pitstop in La Trinite is Thomas Coville's Sodebo who is now into the strong northerlies as passing Cape Finistere, the northwestern most tip of Spain. It will be interesting to see how quickly Sodebo catches up with the gaggle of three - Sopra Group, Banque Covefi and Sergio Tacchini.

Meanwhile yesterday's leader Jean-Luc Nélias on Belgacom has been having halyard woes. "We haven’t had much rest" commented Nélias in a call to his shore crew on stand-by in Port La Forêt. “The weather conditions are trying, we’re having some problems. The gennaker halyard broke twice in a row, once last night and again this morning. We resolved the problem once and rethreaded the halyard. To do that I had to climb to the top of the mast to repair it and Luc went inside the tube. It took us four hours but unfortunately the halyard broke again afterwards." In the second unexpected drop they destroyed the genniker.

Belgacom will make a pitstop somewhere on the Algarve where their shore team will meet them with a new genniker. Meanwhile Sergio Tacchini and Bonduelle have both experienced batten breakage, while Géant have rectified the problem with one of their lower shrouds, which unexpected dropped to the deck two days ago.

In the wet ride the boats have been expecting, several crews reported that they have found themselves drenched in oil, in pellets form around 8-10cm in diameter from the break-up of the tanker, Prestige, during the storm that wreaked havoc on the Route du Rhum. “There’s oil everywhere," reported Sergio Tacchini skipper, Karine Fauconnier. "Very sticky balls of oil which is really difficult to get off the centreboard”.

Having covered 423 miles in 24 hours, Franck Cammas (Groupama) was the first to win the Trophée Baume & Mercier for the highest noon to noon run. This is likely to be improved upon today.

Foncia update

As reported Alain Gautier's Foncia with Ellen MacArthur on board capsized to the southwest of Lisbon last night. The crew are well and a Portugese navy vessel is on standby to protest her from on coming shipping or speeding Challenge Mondial competitors.

A tug boat is expected to leave from town of Setubal to the south of Lisbon at first light and was expected to rendez-vous with the upturned trimaran later this morning. Towing the boat at 3-4 knots it is unlikely that Foncia will get back to port - most probably Cascais - until Thursday.