Race restart

1.3 miles separates the three leaders in the 60ft trimaran's MultiCup as the boats approach Gibraltar

Positions at 0844GMT:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	VMG	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
1	Banque Populaire	Pascal Bidegorry	35 58.16' N	6 13.00' W	11.6	14.2	129	1370.9	0
2	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	36 00.28' N	6 16.60' W	11	14.7	138	1372	1
3	Groupama 2	Franck Cammas	35 47.08' N	6 20.80' W	10.3	10.7	57	1372.2	1.3
4	Gitana 11	Fred le Peutrec	35 50.12' N	6 55.76' W	9	17.7	144	1397.6	26.7
5	Gitana 12	Thierry Dupres	35 52.76' N	7 26.88' W	9.7	13.4	131	1431	60.1
6	Sopra Group	Antoine Koch	39 36.44' N	10 49.80' W	10.5	11.4	126	1693.6	322.6

In the MultiCup the concertina has closed up dramatically in the last 24 hours with now just 1.3 miles separating the three frontrunners, as they beat upwind across the Bay of Cadiz towards the Strait of Gibraltar. Franck Cammas on Groupama 2 has in theory lost his lead and is down to third place and with Fred le Peutrec's Gitana 11 now just 26.7 miles astern but making 17 knots compared to 14 for the leaders. 14 knots on a 60ft trimarans means that true wind speed could be as low as 5 knots. Even Gitana 12 is catching up fast following the breakage of the rudder in their starboard. We understand this was one of the original Bonduelle rudders and the team have now carried out a running repair replacing the rudder with a spare they carry on board.

Earlier Michel Desjoyeaux wrote from on board Geant: "A wild and wonderful night? Not really. But we’ve got something else on the go. Either we come out of the Bay of Cadix with a head sea and a northerly wind at Cape Saint Vincent, or we go into the Bay for the remainder of a strong wind blowing in from Gibraltar. In other words, we’re undecided, Géant is being given a shake up and is not making great headway. It’s not much fun when Géant gets stuck between two winds, it’s even worse. A wonderful night ! Cadix is not always a nice place to be. Conditions are pretty yucky!

"The Queen Elisabeth 2 is overtaking us right now at 13 knots, bound for Gibraltar. I keep making spelling mistakes because of the waves. I can’t be bothered to correct them any more. Have a night flat night in the comfort of your level beds!"

The forecast has the wind building but it will remain upwind for the next few days...