Joscke into the lead

As Mini sailors experience mix of wind and calms with 200 miles to go before they reach les Sables d'Olonne

While neither Sam Davies, Jeanne Gregoire nor Liz Wardley managed to take line honours on the last leg of the Solitaire Afflelou la Figaro into Dingle, French yachtsman Isabelle Joscke this afternoon moved into the lead of the Mini class' Les Sables-Les Acores-Les Sables race, now with less than 200 miles to go to reach the finish line.

Ironically the 29 year old Franco-German sailor Joscke is racing the same Andrew Cape-designed boat Degrémon t which Sam Davies competed in the 2001 Mini Transat. A product of the famous Glenans sailing school in France this is Joscke's third season in the Mini and although she has yet to score a race win she has been consistently in the top 10 during her time in the class culminating in a second place in this year's Open Demi-Cle.

While Joscke maybe leading in terms of distance to finish, this situation is highly tenuous with the top eight boats still in contention. In particular yesterday's leader David Sineau on Bretagne Lapins is only two miles behind her (although postioned to the north) with François Salabert on Areas Assurances five miles behind her (on a simlar trajectory to Sineau). In particularlyKoscke will be looking over her shoulder for the ever dangerous Belgium sailor Peter Laureyssens on Ecover who is directly seven miles astern of her.

Slightly disturbing is that the boats such as Bretagne Lapins appear to have run out of wind, whiile Joscke and Laureyssens have some breeze and are making 4-6 knots, meanwhile the brave sorted to the north including Spanish flier-master Gérard Marin still appear to have good breeze making 8-9 knots. However leg one winner Adrien Hardy can do it better and is now 11 miles ahead of Marin, just 21 miles off the lead, although there is no clear evidence from the weather chart why they should be going so much faster. Marin still looks in good shape to take a well deserved win in the Series class.

The topsy turvey wind appears to have also affected the boats to the north thanks to the progress of a cold front over the fleet last night. At 9pm GMT last night, Adrien Hardy ( Brossard) had an average speed over more than 10 knots, whereas this morning at 0900 GMT his speed was 3 knots, at 1300 today more than 11 knots and at 1500GMT - 7 knots!

And it is not over. A warm front is due to pass over the fleet tonight followed by a cold front around midday tomorrow (according to the Bracknell forecast). This will see a shift from the southwest to the northwest.

Thus they will face somethig of a tactical challenge, while sailing in no visibility with no moon to make manoeuvres easier. At this late stage they will have to be careful not to break their boats, not miss any clouds, watch out for the course, the fishing boats, keep eyes open, while not forgetting to eat and drink. There are going to be some exhausted by thoroughly wired sailors reaching Les Sables d'Olonne Friday night.

Further back in the fleet the skippers had to endure a sudden gale when the cold front passed through last night bringing with it gusts in excess of 40 knots gusts. Some boats were damaged including Britain's own Andrew Wood ( Domofosa.com) who has broken a spreader, Bertrand Castelnérac ( Alan France) who has broken his spinnaker pole once again. .. Fabien Sellier ( Surfrider Foundation) has blown up his masthead kite and his pole is damaged. Meanwhile Stéphan Bonvin ( Marcel for Ever) has some problems with his steering system and ocean racing veteran Jean-Marie Vidal ( Jason) has broken his masthead kite halyard. Karen Leibovici ( Tam Tam) has broken her spinnaker pole and Romain Vidal ( Bingo) has blown up his small kite. Dominique Barthel ( Yamm) for his part, continues to sail to Les Sables d’Olonne  with only one rudder. And Sébastien Picault ( Groupe Royer) does what he can without automatic pilot …

In short - one hell of a race.

Positions at 1300GMT

Pos.	Boat	Skipper	Lat.	Long.	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
1 (1)	276 - Degrémont	Isabelle JOSCHKE	45°16.20 N	006°12.60 W	3.57	67	198.03	0
2 (-1)	348 - Bretagne Lapins	David SINEAU	45°23.94 N	006°20.34 W	1.32	44	200.18	2.15
3 (0)	454 - Areas Assurances	François SALABERT	45°23.04 N	006°23.52 W	1.38	30	202.58	4.55
4 (1)	618 - Ecover	Peter LAUREYSSENS	45°15.18 N	006°22.80 W	6.06	68	205.04	7.01
5 (-1)	510 - Adria Mobil Too	Andraz MIHELIN	45°21.36 N	006°39.84 W	3.68	70	213.91	15.88
6 (0)	198 - Brossard	Adrien HARDY	45°39.18 N	006°56.82 W	9.15	93	219.84	21.81
7 (0)	626 - Escar l'escala/c.n.llanca	Gérard MARIN	45°55.86 N	007°17.22 W	8.28	85	230.06	32.03
8 (0)	617 - Soitec	Fabien DESPRES	44°56.16 N	006°56.64 W	5.99	91	234.61	36.58
9 (2)	509 - Adria Mobil	Kristian HAJNSEK	45°07.08 N	008°52.50 W	7.67	51	306.88	108.85
10 (0)	247 - Faber France	Thomas RUYANT	44°14.76 N	008°38.10 W	6.87	52	317.73	119.7
11 (1)	432 - Carben composites	Xavier HAIZE	46°37.98 N	009°49.32 W	8.58	109	330.73	132.7
12 (3)	260 - Negawatt	Olivier CUSIN	45°41.81 N	009°53.48 W	8.62	79	339.69	141.66
13 (1)	286 - Le roi du matelas	Mathieu GIROLET	45°34.68 N	009°54.00 W	7.41	104	341.47	143.44
14 (3)	607 - BPI	Francisco LOBATO	45°03.90 N	009°53.28 W	7.92	105	348.75	150.72
15 (-2)	165 - Hakuna Matata	Fabrice LUCAT	44°18.48 N	009°33.48 W	6.65	64	351.74	153.71
16 (4)	424 - PCO Technologies	Ronan DESHAYES		010°04.44 W	9.31	74	357.44	159.41
17 (-1)	518 - Jules	Hervé PIVETEAU	44°22.26 N	009°48.00 W	7.17	49	359.69	161.66
18 (1)	317 - Déolen	Rémi DAUDIN	45°47.94 N	010°34.38 W	7.28	76	366.68	168.65
19 (-1)	245 - Ubik 245	Dominik ZURRER	45°55.14 N	010°37.74 W	7.02	86	367.85	169.82
20 (1)	650 - Jason	Jean-Marie VIDAL	45°28.32 N	010°44.28 W	9.02	74	377.25	179.22
21 (2)	612 - Galanz	Jean-François QUELEN	45°16.20 N	010°40.38 W	8.96	68	377.4	179.37
22 (0)	567 - Meteor	Jérôme KOCH	44°59.04 N	010°38.94 W	8.18	104	381.04	183.01
23 (2)	576 - Les Blouses Roses-Colas	Thibault REINHART	45°15.78 N	011°05.64 W	8.17	68	394.73	196.7
24 (2)	321 - Owl	Yoann VADELEAU	44°41.88 N	010°58.92 W	8.96	72	399.78	201.75
25 (-1)	491 - Marcel for ever	Stephan BONVIN	45°21.66 N	011°19.68 W	7.12	73	402.95	204.92
26 (2)	460 - KPMG	Elodie RIOU	44°55.02 N	011°21.54 W	10.51	67	411.06	213.03
27 (2)	352 - Mini 352	Mark BLOOM	44°44.82 N	011°21.84 W	8.49	78	414.31	216.28
28 (-1)	511 - Bingo	Romain VIDAL	44°49.80 N	011°31.74 W	6.35	76	419.5	221.47
29 (4)	312 - Night Fever	Yannick ALLAIN	44°09.72 N	011°11.70 W	9.08	66	419.74	221.71
30 (2)	504 - Manu Poki	Alexis HUPIN	44°47.10 N	011°31.74 W	7.8	70	420.3	222.27
31 (-1)	633 - Ned 1	Lucas SCHRODER	44°51.90 N	011°38.82 W	5.98	59	423.68	225.65
32 (-1)	546 - Tam Tam	Karen LEIBOVICI	44°43.02 N	011°35.88 W	6.93	72	424.35	226.32
33 (2)	485 - Architecture(s) élémentaire(s)	Thomas BONNIER	44°27.41 N	011°31.25 W	9.02	77	426.32	228.29
34 (2)	551 - 1000bateaux.com	Raoul COSPEN	44°35.82 N	011°38.22 W	9.58	75	428.2	230.17
35 (2)	472 - STGS.FR	Vincent BARNAUD	44°29.64 N	011°36.60 W	9.08	77	429.15	231.12
36 (2)	353 - Intrepid Project Valencia	Nacho ORTI	44°30.84 N	011°44.40 W	9.06	72	433.99	235.96
37 (7)	507 - Sailing Atlantic Services	Adrien MONSEMPES	45°47.58 N	012°15.30 W	10.74	64	436.15	238.12
38 (1)	569 - Napadelis	Bertrand DELESNE	44°42.72 N	012°03.48 W	6.99	72	443.12	245.09
39 (1)	613 - Merlin soft	Henrik MASEKOWITZ	44°42.66 N	012°03.72 W	7.78	73	443.3	245.27
40 (-6)	599 - Ange	Michel VIU	44°39.90 N	012°04.08 W	6.49	74	444.38	246.35
41 (1)	444 - Spot	David RAWLINSON	44°28.50 N	012°06.78 W	8	74	449.83	251.8
42 (-1)	508 - Allianz.pl	Jaro KACZOROWSKI	44°10.80 N	011°58.50 W	7.08	69	450.44	252.41
43 (2)	517 - Raisonances	Sébastien MARSSET	44°32.64 N	012°15.60 W	7.12	67	454.44	256.41
44 (5)	455 - ADD-Modules	Antoine DEBLED	44°42.66 N	012°34.50 W	8.45	69	464.18	266.15
45 (-2)	500 - Domosofa.com	Andrew WOOD	44°23.88 N	012°25.92 W	6.03	75	464.26	266.23
46 (0)	250 - Alan France	Bertrand CASTELNéRAC	44°34.98 N	012°32.64 W	6.58	57	465.24	267.21
47 (6)	516 - Atlantik FT	David KRIZEK	43°49.86 N	012°17.88 W	10.23	79	471.32	273.29
48 (4)	426 - Sailcenter.nl	Jelmer BOUW	43°52.44 N	012°22.74 W	9.18	77	473.53	275.5
49 (1)	540 - Pearl Energy Feng	Elaine CHUA	43°42.72 N	012°21.42 W	7.59	75	476.54	278.51
50 (-2)	442 - Voilerie Quantum	Isabelle MAGOIS	44°47.64 N	012°55.38 W	7.21	71	476.95	278.92
51 (0)	483 - Surfrider Foundation	Fabien SELLIER	44°43.80 N	012°55.62 W	7.14	64	478.21	280.18
52 (-5)	281 - Yamm	Dominique BARTHEL	45°09.72 N	013°08.40 W	5.26	105	480.17	282.14
53 (1)	384 - 20 minutes	Grégory MAGNE	44°22.32 N	013°19.98 W	7.03	66	501.28	303.25
54 (1)	340 - Lady Jim	Marie-Christine DE BRUGIèRE	43°45.30 N	013°23.82 W	6.6	86	516.93	318.9
55 (1)	573 - Groupe Royer	Sébastien PICAULT	43°50.58 N	013°38.58 W	5.57	59	524.8	326.77
56 (2)	322 - Peinture Ripolin	Pierre BRASSEUR	43°36.30 N	013°31.68 W	7.64	75	525.67	327.64
57 (0)	450 - Emotion Sailing team-aspanob	Hugo RAMON	43°55.14 N	013°43.92 W	8.12	66	526.72	328.69
NL	419 - Rafiki	Nicholas BRENNAN	Non localisé