Cape Verdes tonight

As big reaching conditions take their toll on the Mini Transat fleet

Proto class positions at 0600 GMT

Series class positions at 0600 GMT

Charts above courtesy of Expedition/Tasman Bay Navigation Systems andPredictWind. Latest scheds below.

The Charente Maritime-Bahia Transat 6.50 (aka the Mini Transat) set sail from Funchal in Madeira last Thursday. Since then they have dispatched the Canaries and are now well on their way to the gate at the Cape Verdes which aims to keep the fleet together (for safety reasons) prior to them tackling the Doldrums.

In the Proto class on the approach to the Canary Islands Guillaume le Brec, David Raison, Bertrand Delesne and leg one winner Sebastien Rogues had all head the lead. Almost all of the fleet left the Canary Islands to port, with the exception of design Etienne Bertrand on Chassseur de Primes who passed between the most westerly of the island group Gomera and la Palma. While the bulk of the fleet stuck to the rhumb line, Sebastien Rogues on Eole Generation GDF Suez dug out to the west gaining some separation from the fleet. Overnight on Saturday Bertrand Delesne on Zone Large had nosed into the lead among the main group to overhaul Rogues, however several of the big guns in the Proto class including Jorg Riechers and David Raison were also erring west over the course of Sunday and come yesterday morning Rogues was back in front with Guillaume le Brec on Occamat/ATD and Thomas Normand on Financiere de l'Echiquier doing well slightly further east. As the boats began to line up for the Cape Cerde gate, so yesterday afternoon just four miles separated the top four with Rogues still furthest west, Bertrand Delesne out to the east and with Thomas Normand and David Raison in between. Overnight the boats have turned slightly to port onto a due south heading and David Raison on his innovative scow Team Work Evolution had nosed into the lead with Sebastien Rogues still out to the west but now down to sixth and German Jorg Riechers now up to four having crossed over to the east.

The gate at the Cape Verdes is pretty wide - around 150 miles between Santa Antao, the most northwesterly of this African island group and Maio, the most southeasterly. However strategically the widest channel is to the east involving more miles being sailed. For leader David Raison this channel is still 150 miles away which at the 11 knots he is currently averaging this will get him there early this evening.

The marginally slower Series boat set off from Madeira with Benoit Mariette, Renaud Mary, Jean-Marie Oger and Davy Beaudart all doing well on the way to the Canaries with Sergio Frattaruolo spearing off on an easterly flyer which eventually saw him stop in Gran Canaria. Throughout Friday Britain's Pip Hare on The Potting Shed was doing well, holding fourth. As with the Protos the majority of the Series boats left the Canaries to port with one of the exceptions being Pip Hare who followed Etienne Bertrand's route between Gomera and la Palma.

Passing the Canaries Eric Llull on Cocoa Noble, who led the Series class for most of leg one, nosed his way into the lead overnight on Friday, albeit with just 5.5 miles separating the top five. Llull did particularly well during the day on Saturday sailing down the rhumb line, to extend his lead out to 15.5 miles over second placed Davy Beaudart, who had speared out to the west as the leading Protos had done.

Overnight on Sunday the wind backed a little causing the boats to turn on to a more southerly heading with Pip Hare benefitting out to the east being on the inside of the shift, pulling her back up to ninth but over the course of the day the boats in the west did well with Gwénolé Gahinet on Asso Watever and Pierre Brasseur on Voiles Ocean finally overhauling Llull.

This morning the spread across the race in the Series class is bigger than that in the Protos with Pip Hare still holding the easterly berth among the front group and Davy Beaudart furthest west some 150 miles away from Pip with Gahinet still leading and Clément Bouyssou on Douet Distribution up to second, Llull now down to sixth with Pip Hare still very much in the game, but down to 15th. The Series leaders have around 240 miles until they get to the Cape Verdes.

While for the last few days the Minis have been roaring south in the trades, at present around the Cape Verdes there is better pressure on the west side of the race track but this seems to be a moveable feast over the next 24 hours with a small bubble of high pressure developing to the northwest of the African island group later today. Unfortunately this bubble of high pressure appears to be roaming around to the southwest of the Cape Verdes over the next 48 hours which is likely to play havoc with the initial attempts being made by the crews to line up for a westerly track through the Doldrums.

There have been a few casualties in the fleet. On Saturday Renaud Chavarria on Béziers Méditérranée dismasted but managed to erect a jury rig and was heading to the Canaries. In Tenerife Italian Giacomo Sabbatini on Scusami Le Spalle has retired with rudder problems, while Thibault Reinhart on Araldite and Polands Radoslaw Kowalczyk on Calbud will both stop in Mindelo in the Cape Verdes to rectify power problems. The big reaching conditions are also taking their toll with Davy Beaudart having to replace his bobstay and Renaud Mary having issues with one of his boat's spreaders. Chinese competitor Guo Chuan meanwhile is attempting to fix one of his rudders in the Canary Islands.