This morning the dominance of the boats on the west was complete when MAPFRE took third place, gaining the advantage over previous leaders Estrella Damm between 0200-0230hrs (UTC).

 

Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (ESP) follow Foncia in first place and Virbac Paprec 3 in second. However, the Spanish Olympic medalists are not maintaining the same speeds as the two more southerly boats, sailing at around 14 knots compared to the leading duo’s 20-plus knot pace.

This pace has seen the leaders extend away from the easterly group, adding over 100 miles to Estrella Damm’s deficit overnight to total around 290 miles. Virbac Paprec 3 have in fact covered the most water of any boat in the past 24 hours since the Barcelona World RACE began, at 502 miles (VMG) since yesterday morning.

The gap looks set to widen, as Estrella Damm are currently in light northerly breezes of around 6 knots with their boat speed dropping in the past hour to around 5 knots. Behind them in fifth place Groupe Bel have maintained a similar 8-knot average pace to the Spaniards overnight, making them the slowest pair of the fleet.

This morning finds the ‘laughing cow’ in better pressure around 90 miles further north, however Kito de Pavant and Sebastien Audigane (FRA) are not expecting this to continue, emailing that they feel ‘jinxed’ and explaining that: “All the information from satellites, weather centres and the most sophisticated routing simulation software confirms day after day that the area where we are right now is by far the best place to continue our route…”

Mirabaud continue to hold off Renault Z.E, although the distance between the two has halved to just over 20 miles, closely followed by Neutrogena. GAES Centros Auditivos are back up to 12 knots this morning after a frustrating evening which saw them becalmed under clouds with only zephyr like pressure.

Central Lechera Asturiana in 10th, meanwhile, are maintaining the best average pace of the rear of the pack, at almost 13 knots overnight, which has seen the re-establish their lead over Hugo Boss.