Sill into the lead

Race favourite pulls ahead as Open 60s struggle across Irish Sea

Positions at 0600GMT

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	SOG	COG	DTF	DTL
1	Sill	50 46.96' N	8 11.84' W	6.5	354	1404.4	0
2	PRB	50 50.04' N	8 08.00' W	6.6	354	1405	0.6
3	Ecover	50 51.04' N	7 59.88' W	2.9	289	1408.9	4.5
4	VMI	50 55.32' N	7 47.80' W	7.5	8	1413.9	9.5
5	Arcelor Dunkerque	50 40.16' N	7 54.88' W	2.6	302	1417.1	12.7
6	Bobst Group Armor Lux	50 18.96' N	8 15.20' W	8.1	259	1420.2	15.7
7	Team 888	50 18.12' N	8 03.00' W	8.6	354	1426.3	21.9
8	Garnier	49 29.92' N	7 26.40' W	8.4	286	1477.8	73.4

Below: wind satellite image for 0830GMT today



The tactical battle is now full on as the nine Open 60s in the Calais Round Britain Race head upwind across the Irish Sea having rounded the mark at Bishop's Rock. As the positions above show most boats at the time of the report were on starboard tack while Sebastien Josse's VMI is the only boat on port. During the night the gentlemen on board race favourite Sill have pulled into the lead but by only half a mile from yesterday's front runner PRB. They are believed to have managed this by keeping to the left hand side of the course before tacking - although the Marc Lombard-designed Sill is one of the best boats in the fleet in these conditions.

"We set off a bit too quickly and we were carried along with Ecover and VMI towards the right," commented PRB's skipper Vincent Riou. "Sill bore away to the left which was obviously the thing to do… We got the wind just after the Scillies and since then it’s been a night of tacking. The fleet have regrouped a little and now it’s a bit closer out in front. Currently we are racing under full mainsail and jib, the wind is 10 knots at most and the sea state is perfect."

Ecover does not relish these conditions. A bleary Mike Golding described their fortunes: "When we were down in the south we experienced a big wind shift and now we've got some mild conditions. We are sailing along now with the gennaker and full main sail, so it has not been such a bad night's sailing really. We've got 12 knots and it's basically light and mild as expected. Overall we've experienced a variety of conditions, downwind at first and now moderate to light, upwind sailing. One or two boats we've seen have taken some unusual choices over the weather, but it seems we've made good choices - we've got a great crew for that. We've had upwind conditions with clear visibility which has made it a little cooler. So now we've got an upwind slog, which isn't our best point of sail so I think a little sleep is the order of the day. We've been pushing non-stop, at the same rate since the start - it really has been flat out”.

As predicted crossing the trough and heading into the headwinds has concertinaed the fleet, which has been good news for Jonny Malbon and Mark Denton on Team 888. Navigator Will Oxley sent the following through to race HQ during the night. "Happy to have got back in contact with the group at Bishop Rock. We have 10 to 15 knots of wind and we’re sailing against the wind towards Ireland. We’re working hard to try and get back the miles that the leaders have on us ».



Above: Mark Denton (left) with Jonny Malbon

Mark Denton sums up progress on Team 888 so far:

You just wouldn't believe how intense the first 36 hours has been in this race - from a cracking start over the line nicely positioned in fourth place, with the top three jostling just to weather of us, we stretched our legs down the coast of France, gybing sweetly and holding the other boats no problem. But then just after the last course mark, some five hours into the race, we were running down wind in company of all the other boats in a perfect 8 knot breeze when our new 1.3 oz kite just exploded with a massive bang - - this was ten minutes after we had all professed that this was the best sailing ever and had just rolled over Sill to weather - just typical. No one was doing anything wrong, it just failed at the head, tearing down each of the seams in a split second.

Thankfully we recovered what was left of it pretty quickly with a really nice piece of team work before it had a chance to get underneath the boat or round the rudders. Don't know what footage they got but the Royale Productions chase boat was only a mile or so behind us and as they approached the cameraman lifted his hands in sympathy - it was a cruel blow, but we got another one up pretty quick, only losing two or so miles on the frontrunners.

From then on in it was a drag race up the Channel towards the Isle of Wight, trucking along at 15 knots in flat sea conditions that saw us eat up 300 miles in 24 hours. Boy do we miss the 6th person that we had on the Daimler Chrysler - gybing requires all five of us and we did plenty of gybes - hence sleep has been sporadic to say the least - probably just three hours or so within this period. The fleet was pretty tightly bunched as we approached the Island, and we managed to claw some distance back and were with the front pack of Sill, VMI and Ecover, PRB just four miles away.

As darkness fell, we decided to favour the central channel for more wind pressure, which we hoped would outweigh the less tide advantage in-shore. Everything we had told us this was the way to go, and we had several well qualified opinions to suggest that. During the night as we scooted out into the middle, we were expecting a wind direction change that never came, pinning us to stay on the favourable gybe numbers wise, but meaning we seperated from the fleet. The direction held strong, and we could do nothing more than ride it until it presented us the opportunity to gybe back without it really hurting us. By the time that happened we were pretty close to the coast of France, while the rest of the fleet had stayed UK side. Only time would tell whether this would hammer us, but as we logged onto the satellite to pull some weather in we quickly realised it would. The breeze strength was less on the French side, with the UK side looking the better bet. And over the next few hours as we crawled up towards Lizard Point we payed the price - PRB 44 miles ahead, Ecover some 5 miles back and so on and so forth. We were down in seventh.

Gutting one that one, but just the way it goes. We thought we could get an advantage that way, and Will Oxley our navigator had done an enormous amount of research into what was going to happen the first 24 hours, but unfortunately the weather didn't play ball. Some would say we should have stayed with the fleet, and in hindsight that of course looks like the better option for sure, but as always, hindsights a wonderful thing.

So from mid-Channel to the Lizard and onwards to the Scillies we've been playing catch up - never a nice thing, but certainly keeps your mind focussed to do everything right. And that's what we've been doing, and as we finally managed to inch our way round Wolf Rock lighthouse in virtually no breeze the good news came in that PRB was now just 29 miles ahead.

Next hurdle was a frontal trough that swept through the fleet - the other boats had thunder and lightning with virtually no breeze, Team888 missing this but getting little more wind. Right now we've rounded Bishops Rock off the Scillies and are now hard on the breeze as we advance towards Ireland. But it's tricky tactics still at play - the wind is shifty direction and strength wise, which on a conventional boat would be little problem to react too. But we have to pick our tacks wisely - on Team888 it's a bit more of a mission. First you dump the ballast water that we have pumped up to weather in the bow to stop her slamming so much off the waves. Then it's daggerboard up, runner on, centre the traveller, ease the main a touch, before putting her through the wind, backing the genoa to help us round in the 12 knot breeze, before dumping the genoa weather sheet.

Then it's a massive wind in on the other side on the grinders, then the main back in, daggerboard down, ballast back in. Like I said we have to pick the shifts carefully.

Outcome of all this is that were knackered! Just drained from the physical and mental stress, the lack of sleep. So priority right now is to get everyone back in shape while not missing a beat on the fleet - the latest sched shows that were still making gains which is so key. So we've have had a reality check or two about what it's like to race at this level, but were not downhearted, far from it. Truth is were ever more determined to get this boat back up there wher it belongs. So on that note, It's 0400 and I'm back up again in three hours, not withstanding the need to tack in the meantime! I need my bed!