Route du Rhum update

Latest arrivals into the French Caribbean hotspot, Miranda Merron has an encounter + 1100GMT positions

Roland Jourdain was Open 60 favourite in the Route du Rhum having won the Transat Jacques Vabre last year and the Regata de Rubicon this year aboard his Marc Lombard-designed Sill Plein Fruit.

Jourdain took a more southerly route out of the Bay of Biscay and paid the price - 60-70 knot winds that ripped his mainsail above the third reef. He was forced to put into Madeira to replace the sail and looked a potential threat at one point to re-enter the competition (he was well placed for the Trade Winds at the time). However this did not work out for him.

Jourdain finished fourth at 17:59:04 GMT today (Tuesday) in a time of 16 days 5 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds.

The charismatic Roland Jourdain (AKA 'Bilou')