St Kilda bound

Variable conditions as Calais Round Britain Open 60s make for next mark of the course

Positions at 1400

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	SOG	COG	DTF	DTL
1	PRB	57 16.00' N	8 46.84' W	8.4	10	933.5	0
2	Bobst Group Armor Lux	57 38.16' N	8 43.04' W	7.6	346	936.5	3
3	Sill	57 37.80' N	8 47.96' W	7.5	349	937.9	4.4
4	Ecover	57 28.44' N	8 48.08' W	7.1	345	946.8	13.3
5	VMI	57 15.96' N	8 44.28' W	8	357	947.7	14.2
6	Team 888	56 48.96' N	8 54.96' W	8	337	986.3	52.8
7	Arcelor Dunkerque	55 56.56' N	9 09.40' W	4.8	26	1039.2	105.7
8	Objectif 3	55 36.00' N	09 56.00' W	4.7	9	1064.5	131
9	Garnier	54 03.32' N	10 22.20' W	11.4	13	1158.8	225.3

The Calais Round Britain fleet were this afternoon heading for the remote Scottish bird sanctuary of St Kilda in an easterly breeze that has continued to let them sail slightly cracked on starboard tack.

The battle between the front runners is still tight, with Bernard Stamm taking a more easterly course where some forecasts have indicated there to be more wind, while those to the west looked set to be headed first with the wind swinging back to the north.

At present the rich are getting richer with two of the three boats at the back of the pack sailing through thick fog in considerably less pressure as they await the wind to kick in again. The front runners experienced the fog last night, but with the shift to the east, the skies have cleared.

Just 0.2 miles behind at the 1100 BST ranking, was busy on deck when he was called at noon.

“Everyone is on deck on the moment," said Jérémie Beyou describing the conditions on board PRB. "There’s quite a lot of work to do and we’re profiting from the good weather. We’re making 10 knots on a starboard tack, 40 miles west of the Hebrides. We’re on a direct course to St Kilda and we’ve tried virtually every sail configuration! It’s great to have so many boats around us as it gives us a chance to compare speeds and see what kind of sails our rivals have up. The weather is hot and it’s a real bonus to have sun after last night’s pea-souper. We couldn’t see the top of the mast last night!"

Since tearing their Solent jib yesterday, Sill has done a good job to remain in the frame while her crew has been repairing the sail below deck. "Yes, we’ve had some trouble with our sails and tore our solent yesterday afternoon," confirmed skipper Roland Jourdain. "We put up the staysail and managed to drop the solent for repairs yesterday after Bruno (Béhuret) scaled the mast. There was a real ambiance of camaraderie among us. We sent poor Bruno up a second time when we had finished the repairs. It was pretty rocky up there for him and he wanted to get down but we wouldn’t let him so we left him swinging in the shrouds for a while!

"We were fairly surprised this morning not to have lost more ground. We’re coming out of the fog in every sense of the term! Now all we need is a little light patch so we can hoist the genoa back up and ask our comrades to wait for us for a while so we can do it properly!"

The crewo on Mike Golding's Ecover were also in good form having overtaken Sebastien Josse's VMI. "The conditions are beautiful which makes a really nice change from the last few days," said navigator Miranda Merron. "When Brian (Thompson) and I were on watch during the night, it was pouring, really pouring, but conditions kept changing. The wind conditions were excellent with some hard reaching. By 3am it was already light. We’re now using our code zero in 7/8 knots of easterly on flat seas and it’s great to be in contact with everyone."

Mark Denton sends us another report from sixth placed Team 888

The story continues - the rich get richer, the poorer get poorer, which is quite befitting considering our bank balance right now! Last night was another chance for us to put this boat back up in the leading pack. Will Oxley, our navigator had worked solidly all day on research on what was going to happen through the night as a front pushed through across the course. The Quikscat (see above), normally a pretty accurate weather snapshot as it's derived from actual satellite altimetry data, suggested a band of light winds ahead (in black) and a switch to the East - the narrowest band also towards the East. So we doggedly sailed hard to get east of the fleet, in the hope that they would slow or park up and we could keep going and get the shift first - it made perfect sense and we were all in agreement that that was the way to go. The leaders Bobst Armor Lux, had the same idea, as did Mike, but due to them being close to the others they probably didn't need to try as hard as us, who were looking for big advantage.

At daybreak, we had got to where we wanted to be and fast which was key, and as we hit the transition zone, we were without wind for just 5 minutes before the easterly started to build. There was smiles all round, the anticipation starting to build that maybe, just maybe it might have worked - the exact time the wind died to when it started to fill in again were totally spot on to Will's forecast to within 10 minutes!

On watch change Fraser Brown and I, jumped into our bunks, knowing that when we woke up the news would be in, the 0800 position report. Even though we were supposed to sleep until 10.00, I woke at 0800, just naturally, my mind oblivious to my body, just having to know. With one ear open I heard Jonny fire up the Sat B, download the CRB site and then a long sigh and an 'oh no.....'

The cold reality was that the weather system had moved slightly differently and those out to the west carried on as if nothing had happened, and us in the east who had sailed many extra miles to be here were going to pay a hefty price. Ten miles lost to each and every one of them.

I just stared up at the carbon ceiling just 3 inches from my head and shook my head, I could hear Fraser in the bunk below doing the same. Just maddening. Jonny sat at the chart table, head in hands, Will, his usual calm self but a little deflated - weather is a black art at any time, and right now it just wasn't playing ball.

When we got up not much was said - just 'have you heard....', 'yep' being the short reply with a shake of the head... By now Jonny was up on deck and I poked my head out the hatch to see how he was - we just looked at each other, both shook our heads and then burst out laughing - 'what do we have to do!'

As is always the case with this team we bounce back pretty quickly. Minutes later everyone was saying 'oh well, onwards and upwards', and 'it's only 50 miles to the leader - we can do that,' everyone having a laugh in the warm morning sunshine, a rarity up here in the North sea. But to add insult to injury, the frontrunners, then worked east accross us 30-50 miles ahead, ready for the wind to head us as forecast. That has now happened, and because they are that much closer to the next waypoint, they are now making course, and we are 30 degrees off! Happy days!

So that's where were at. Plus side is, it is the most beautiful day, a chance to dry out all our kit, clean the boat, have a feed, get some rest - and do some necessary maintenance to the boat to make sure nothing lets us down later. Some of this is trickier than you think - Jonny had to replace a lashing that was chafed on the bowsprit, which meant being suspended in a bosuns chair for 40 minutes just above the water which lead to him losing the feeling in both legs! What we were thankful of though was that 888 dipped her bow a bit a couple of times and washed his stinking feet!

Good news, in a way, is that all the way to Scotland is upwind, and just 2 hours from Muckle Flugger, when we should be normally preparing the Spinnaker, the wind goes into the South East and then the South, for our trip down the North Sea. Can you believe it! Upwind all the way. But at least that gives us a few more lives to try and get back into this race - you probably guessed by now we don't like and didn't expect to be back here. If it had been downwind, the frontrunners would have turned the corner and just shot off, while we still plodded on upwind. A difficult situation to recover.

So we continue, upbeat and just as determined - and believe me that's from our hearts. We'd still rather be out here than any place in the world, but don't tell our respective wives/girlfriends! Keep your fingers crossed, and thanks for following us.