Passing Algeria

Slow tense night of position swapping for the IB Group Challenge boats

Positions at 0800GMT

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
1	Banque Populaire 4	Pascal Bidegorry	37 03.34' N	1 46.14' E	10.7	63	1236.4	0
2	Groupama 2	Franck Cammas	37 08.32' N	1 46.92' E	9.7	49	1237.9	1.5
3	Foncia	Armel le Cleac'h	37 07.04' N	1 45.68' E	9.1	57	1239	2.6
4	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	37 00.76' N	1 40.36' E	10.1	90	1243.7	7.3
5	Gitana 11	Fred le Peutrec	37 06.80' N	1 35.80' E	12.4	47	1246.8	10.4
6	Gitana X	Thierry Duprey	37 06.88' N	0 20.96' E	22	87	1306.3	69.9

Having passed through the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday, the leading five 60ft trimarans competing in the IB Group Challenge remain just 10 miles apart after four days of racing. At present the boats are heading east off the coast of Algeria bound for the turning mark - Malta - before they head back leaving Sicily to starboard and Sardinia and Corsica to port towards the Nice finish line.

The lead has been constantly changing. At 0630GMT Groupama 2 was ahead while at 0200GMT it was Geant and yesterday afternoon it was Groupama 2. Geant took a more northerly course over night but has since crossed gybes with those on port gybe and is now the most southerly boat.

At present the going is light in southeasterlies with the boats having made little more than 10 knots overnight. This is expected to get worse over the next 24 hours with a possible park up as the boats pass the Algerian/Tunisian border to the south of Sardinia where it looks like they will be becalmed.