Rubicon comes to a halt

No wind off Gibraltar sees dwindling Open 60 fleet grind to a halt

Positions at 0900 GMT

Pos	Name	Lat	Long	Speed	Course	DTF	DTL
1	Sill Plein Fruit	36 13.00' N	2 26.32' W	7.7	87	721.8	0
2	Bobst Group Armor Lux	36 13.60' N	2 27.64' W	6.8	74	722.2	0.3
3	Temenos	36 16.36' N	2 36.48' W	8.1	94	725.6	3.7
4	Tiscali	36 20.20' N	3 00.72' W	6.3	57	739.4	17.6
5	Kingfisher	36 26.12' N	3 25.92' W	5.9	102	756.5	34.7

As predicted yesterday conditions in the Regata de Rubicon have gone 'light and shite' as the five remaining boats struggle to make it through the Straits of GIbraltar.

The position table has been turned around. The lead which Roland Jourdain's Sill enjoyed yesterday has been reduced to nothing - at the 0900 sched she was just ahead of Bernard Stamm on Sill and Dominique Wavre's Temenos, which should in theory be good in the light, having the largest mainsail area, has pulled up to third.

"We expected our friends to pull up to our level with the following wind behind us," commented Jourdain over the satellite phone earlier. "Certainly no one has had the same conditions going through the Gibraltar Straits, and not since then either. We were trapped in a calm patch of air, which allowed Bobst Group to catch up and he's right on our stern now".

During the night Kingfisher has dropped to back to last place as she passed across to the Spanish side of the course during the night and has now fallen into a distinct last.

The sad news is the Jean-Pierre Dick's Virbac has been forced to retire from the Regata de Rubicon following problems with her mast track sustained during the first night at sea.