Golding recovers lead

Fleet reshuffle in Defi Atlantique

Positions at 1100GMT

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Latitude	Longitude	DTF	DTL
1	Mike GOLDING	Ecover	N443852	W0095463	374.6	0
2	Sébastien JOSSE	VMI	N444784	W0100163	376.8	2.2
3	Alex THOMSON	AT Racing	N444300	W0100344	379.4	4.8
4	Vincent RIOU	PRB	N442308	W0100567	386.8	12.2
5	Nick MOLONEY	Team Cowes	N441772	W0114208	454	79.4
6	Joe SEETEN	Arcelor Dunkerque	N432204	W0134808	558.3	183.7
7	Benoît LEQUIN	Wel.network	N374364	W0221020	1056.1	681.5
8	Benoît PARNAUDEAU	Colibri - Charente-Maritime	N350128	W0241068	1231.4	856.8
9	Anne LIARDET	Gonna-Gitcha	N292104	W0255188	1535.5	1160.9
10	Jean Pierre DICK	Virbac	N232948	W0324120	2039.1	1664.5

All change in the leaderboard in the Defi Atlantique as the boats begin their crossing of the Bay of Biscay to the La Rochelle finish line where they are due on Wednesday morning.

Mike Golding on Ecover has caught and overtaken both Alex Thomson and Vincent Riou and now leads again, while Sebastien Josse on VMI is now up to second - a remarkable change around after 3,800 miles of racing.

Golding is currently the furthest east and making the most of upwind conditions, pointing directly at the finish mark. Sebastien Josse, Alex Thomson and Vincent Riou are all further west than Ecover, with Riou being the furthest south nearest the Spanish coast

Golding described his night, "I've been pushing to the left as the breeze was getting lighter. VMI has been thinking the same about cutting the corner to get round the other guys. It got lighter in the night and went down to 3-4 knots of breeze, but I managed to keep the boat moving at 6 knots. I basically crossed into the new breeze as quickly as possible...then got some sleep and the boat was ticking along at 5-6 knots. I slept for about 45 minutes and woke up with boat on its side as the breeze had kicked in, so went on deck to get everything moving normally. I could see a light, which I presumed to be Alex (Thomson), so gave him a call on the Irridium phone. We had a chat about what a crazy race it had been so far. We talked about his fantastic new record - he has done really, really well. Of course it's great to be leading the race, but it is so close that anything could happen. I'm upwind of both VMI and AT Racing, which is great as it puts them further down the wind ladder, its all quite healthy for us at the moment. But the next weather forecast may be completely different and turn everything around again. Literally anything can happen!"