Desjoyeaux into the lead

As Solitaire du Figaro fleet heads up the coast of France bound for Dingle

With frightening regularity the top players have once again moved into the top spots on the first morning at sea in the Solitaire du Figaro's third leg from La Rochelle up the French coast and across to Dingle in southern Ireland.

After her spectacular start yesterday when she was first to the weather mark, Sam Davies on board Skandia is now down to 20th position. Overnight Vendee Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux has pulled out a small lead over second placed Pascal Bidegorry.

The boats have just passed Les Sables d'Olonne and are hugging the French coast to make maximum use of local sea and land breezes. The sole exception is former Whitbread winner Lionel Pean who has taken a flier offshore and may be trying to be first to hook into the northeasterlies associated with the high off Ireland.

Positions at 0600GMT this morning.

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Lat	Long	DTF/L	COG	SOG
1	DESJOYEAUX Michel	Géant	46°40.5N	02°13.4W	473.41nm	289	4.9
2	BIDEGORRY Pascal	Région Aquitaine	46°39.5N	02°12.4W	+ 1.17nm	281	5.7
3	CHABAGNY Thierry	Petit Navire Le Bon Goût du Large	46°39.5N	02°11.6W	+ 1.60nm	278	4.9
4	LE CLEAC'H Armel	Créaline	46°42.4N	02°08.0W	+ 1.97nm	288	4.6
5	CAUDRELIER Charles	Bostik Filey	46°41.2N	02°08.7W	+ 2.22nm	302	5.4
6	ELIES Yann	Groupe Générali Assurances	46°41.5N	02°08.4W	+ 2.25nm	298	4.9
7	GAUTIER Alain	Foncia	46°39.1N	02°10.2W	+ 2.61nm	298	3.8
8	PETIT Benoit	Défi Santé Voile	46°36.4N	02°11.8W	+ 3.41nm	287	5
9	PEYRON Loïck	Fujifilm	46°38.4N	02°09.3W	+ 3.54nm	289	3.3
10	ATTANASIO Romain	Port Trebeurden	46°37.7N	02°09.5W	+ 3.83nm	300	4.3
11	EMIG Marc	Espoir Total Course au Large	46°35.9N	02°11.3W	+ 3.93nm	281	5
12	TABARLY Erwan	Thalès	46°37.3N	02°09.1W	+ 4.35nm	294	4.5
13	RIOU Gwenaël	Espoir Crédit Agricole	46°42.2N	02°03.6W	+ 4.54nm	320	4.1
14	BEYOU Jérémie	Delta Dore	46°37.1N	02°08.2W	+ 4.92nm	289	4.4
15	GUERIN Ronan	Amaine & Chérie	46°41.3N	02°01.7W	+ 6.10nm	304	4.5
16	PELLECUER Laurent	Cliptol Sport	46°32.6N	02°10.6W	+ 6.38nm	302	5.2
17	MORVAN Gildas	Cercle Vert	46°36.0N	02°06.7W	+ 6.39nm	310	4.4
18	ESCOFFIER F.Y.	Crêpes Whaou !	46°40.4N	02°01.6W	+ 6.68nm	312	3.2
19	SEVAUX Stéphane	Sarthe	46°40.0N	02°01.0W	+ 7.29nm	307	4
20	DAVIES Samantha	Skandia	46°39.4N	02°01.6W	+ 7.30nm	301	4.1
21	DROUGLAZET Eric	David Olivier	46°39.2N	02°01.6W	+ 7.37nm	300	4.8
22	THIERCELIN Marc	Bermudes	46°39.4N	02°00.8W	+ 7.67nm	283	5.2
23	DE PAVANT Christophe	Crash Baicoot	46°37.4N	02°02.8W	+ 7.77nm	299	2.9
24	TOULORGE Alexare	Ville de Cherbourg - Crédit Mutuel	46°34.6N	02°04.9W	+ 8.24nm	288	4.2
25	LE BLEVEC Yves	Rêve de Gra-Actual Intérim	46°37.3N	02°00.7W	+ 9.01nm	304	2.6
26	CHIORRI Gilles	32 01 Météo Consult Groupe Prosodie	46°38.2N	01°59.5W	+ 9.13nm	309	3.1
27	PEAN Lionel	Nouvel Observateur	46°22.3N	02°17.5W	+ 9.40nm	298	5.4
28	BAKKER Saer	Egeria	46°32.3N	02°04.9W	+ 9.59nm	298	3.9
29	GRIMONT Damien	Soletanche-Bachy	46°37.4N	01°59.2W	+ 9.75nm	316	3.2
30	BOS Christian	Raynal et Roquelaure	46°35.8N	02°00.5W	+ 9.92nm	292	4.1
31	ALFARO Amaiur	Eki	46°30.9N	02°04.2W	+ 10.86nm	286	3.5
32	GREGOIRE Jeanne	Skipper AG2R	46°35.9N	01°58.4W	+ 11.06nm	299	3.8
33	BOUGARD Patrice	Kogane	46°23.6N	02°10.7W	+ 12.05nm	306	5.1
34	MOUREN Jean-Paul	Marseille Entreprises	46°32.7N	01°59.7W	+ 12.24nm	304	5.2
35	BOISSIERES Arnaud	MBD Design - Sorelec	46°33.1N	01°59.2W	+ 12.32nm	314	4.3
36	ARTAUD Christophe	Petits Petons	46°34.1N	01°57.7W	+ 12.51nm	298	3.6
37	DUPONT Daniel	Art Immobilier Construction	46°34.3N	01°57.3W	+ 12.61nm	305	3.8
38	BOUVET Christophe	Savoy Open Race Télé Monte Carlo	46°33.8N	01°57.7W	+ 12.72nm	292	2.9
39	BASURKO Unai	Bizkaia	46°32.0N	01°56.7W	+ 14.29nm	307	5.8
40	AGUSTA Corrado	Sector Sport Watches	46°32.2N	01°56.2W	+ 14.48nm	302	3.8
41	PILAT Eric	Altaventure-SNSM	46°30.6N	01°56.0W	+ 15.51nm	296	3.6
NC	LEBRETON Eric	CYP	NC