Groupama maintains lead

But Banque Populaire hangs closelly behind in second place in MultiCup

Positions at 0845 GMT

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	VMG	Spd	Crs	DTF	DTL
1	Groupama 2	Franck Cammas	46 00.48' N	6 55.92' W	26.7	26.8	215	2085.6	0
2	Banque Populaire	Pascal Bidegoory	46 17.72' N	7 01.88' W	23.4	23.5	211	2097	11.5
3	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	47 03.44' N	6 15.36' W	19.3	19.6	219	2154	68.5
4	Gitana 11	Fred le Peutrec	47 48.36' N	5 23.36' W	8.9	11.5	171	2210.6	125
5	Gitana 12	Thierry Duprey	47 56.08' N	5 28.48' W	5	5	207	2215.4	129.9
6	Sopra Group	Antoine Koch	48 40.68' N	4 30.44' W	6.9	6.9	243	2276	190.4

In the MultiCup at present it is strongly a case of the rich getting richer. Over the last four hours Groupama 2 and Banque Populaire have more than doubled their lead on third placed Geant as they sail into stronger breeze as they get away from the high pressure system currently parked over north Brittany. With the wind just aft of the beam and blowing at 2 knots, so the leaders are hauling mail, Groupama II making 26 knots...

Considering that the race has been going less than 48 hours there is already a huge separation between the fleet with 190 miles separating first from last. However the fleet can expect to concertina back together over the next 48 hours as the boat negotiate a patch of wind wind off the Portugese coast.

PS: To see some amazing video of Banque Populaire sailing on her leeward foil at 30+ knots go to this page and click on the bottom left hand piece of video.