Match racing up the Adriatic

Three sets of duelling boats bound for Rimini in the Challenge Mondial Assistance

With the front runners in the Challenge Mondial Assistance due to finish this evening, three different match races are emerging in the fleet.

Franck Cammas is playing the major cover game to keep his first place Groupama between second placed and hungry Banque Populaire and the Rimini finish line - still 283.3 miles away at 0400GMT this morning.

The night has been frustrating in the extreme with next to no wind to play with and with a healthy degree of paranoia that "the other boat may have wind".

"It’s true that we were happy to see the others close to shore like us this morning and right in our tracks," said Groupama's Benoit Briand this morning. This morning the green and white trimaran was 12.3 miles ahead of Lalou Roucayrol's Banque Populaire, but in these conditions it is entirely possible Groupama could stall and Roucayrol's troupe sail around them.

30 miles behind the fight for third has been closer. After her batten problems earlier in the leg, Jean le Cam and Bonduelle have been playing a continuous game of catch up. Overnight they have overtaken Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant. At present the two boats are locked in a tacking duel as they try to make the best of the light conditions.

"It’s really something to see them cross behind us and it is obvious that we have been touching a different wind to be able to get back 30 miles on him," said le Cam this morning. "I think it’s possible to try another weather coup and that there will be a transition zone between the upwind now and the reaching that we are due to hit. That’s where there may well be some possibilities! ».