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5:24 PM Mon 24 Nov 2008 GMT
Little change in the order of the top 15 as the Vendee Globe as the leaders enjoy fast trade winds sailing along the Brazilian coast, some 600 miles to the east of Salvador de Bahia.
The winds backed this morning to allow the leaders to ease sheets and power reach at speeds up to 17-18 knots at times.
Loick Peyron's lead has been trimmed very slightly, at 21.8 miles over Seb Josse (BT) from the 29 miles he lead by last night, but with the prospect of the St Helena high pressure system still blocking their direct path then there is the prospect of more important gains and losses in days to come. Indeed as the system moves east there may be bigger benefits for the chasing pack.
The fleet is now strung out over 1500 miles north to south. Britain's Steve White (Toe in the Water) made his first crossing of the Equator today - the only skipper in the fleet never to have done so before. He was followed by Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) just after lunch time today, while the next should be Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis 2).
Malbon was relishing the trade winds conditions after a tough, slow Doldrums crossing, his frustration heightened by a problem with his Fleet 77 receiver which limits his ability to get meteo information.
The slight easterly rotation of the breeze saw Vincent Riou, 4th, (PRB) and Roland Jourdain (Veolia Envirnonnement) bank some of their gains by moving slightly eastt, while Golding, 6th, and Elies, 7th, stuck with their course and took the 'speed' option.
Brian Thompson, GBR, and Marc Guillemot have had an interesting duel, conceptually different boats from either end if the IMOCA Open 60 design spectrum. Guillemot's Safran is one of the lightest in the fleet, going for a stripped, simple approach, while Thompson's Bahrain Team Pindar is perhaps the most powerful. Some 33 miles to the east of him, Guillemot has computed to have taken 10th place from Thompson gaining about 8 miles over the course of the day, the only place change this afternoon.
At the top of the fleet Gitana Eighty still leads by 21.8 miles from Josse's BT. Vincent Riou (PRB), fourth, has repositioned himself almost directly in front or Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) but this pair are still only seven miles apart and often still in sight of each other.
Vendee Globe - Monday 15:00 HRS GMT. (FRA, unless stated)
1- Lo?ck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) 20555.6 miles to the finish
2- Seb Josse (BT) at + 21.8 miles to leader
3- Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) at + 36.2 miles to leader
4- Vincent Riou (PRB) at + 51.4 miles to leader
5-Armel Le Cl?ac'h (Brit Air) at + 53.1 miles
6- Mike Golding, GBR, (ECOVER 3) at + 64.8 miles
Selected International
11- Brian Thompson, GBR, (Bahrain Team Pindar) at + 232.2 miles
12- Dominique Wavre, SUI, (Temenos 2) at + 236.6 miles
13- Sam Davies, GBR,(ROXY) at + 290.9 miles
16- Dee Caffari, GBR, (AVIVA) at + 484 miles
18- Unai Basurko, ESP, (Pakea Bizkaia) at + 605.4 miles
19 - Steve White, GBR, (Toe in the Water) at + 648.1 miles
20- Johnny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis) at + 693 miles
21- Rich Wilson, USA, (Great America III) at + 734.6 miles
23- Bernard Stamm, SUI, (Chemin?es Poujoulat) at + 943.6 miles
24- Norbert Sedlacek, AUT, (Nauticsport-Kapsch) at + 1101 miles
25- Derek Hatfield, CAN, (Algimouss Spirit of Canada) at + 1474.9 miles
Lo?ck Peyron (Gitana Eighty), 1st:
'We haven't been doing too badly since last night. The wind suddenly shifted in the right direction and is currently averaging 20 knots. That wasn't really what was in the forecasts. So now we're sailing directly towards the St. Helena high. Will we get held up there? Maybe. This voyage down the South Atlantic is taking some time. This part of the race, on the way down and indeed on the way up, is fairly routine.
Seb Josse (BT), 2nd + 21.8 miles:
'It's nice to have found some extra speed this morning. But it is much wetter. There is a real wind of 20-25 knots and BT is sailing at 18-20 knots. The seas are a bit more settled now and I'm sailing with the wind on the beam. The upwind sailing is over . but there will be more ahead. The high is gradually moving eastwards and returning to its usual position. At the moment, we have real racing conditions. I have trimmed the sails, brought one back on the deck: it's very wet. I'm under mainsail with one reef.'
Steve White, Toe in the Water, 19th, + 648.1 miles:
On his first Equator crossing, the only skipper in the fleet crossing for the first time: 'I crossed this morning, about 0330hrs, I can't quite remember what time, but I opened a bottle of Norbert Sedlacek's wine, which was really nice, and I poured a bit on the boat, a bit for Neptune and a bit for me, not quite enough for me I don't think!'
'That'll be the first time. It is rather odd really, isn't it, watching the GPS going down and then going up again. So I suppose it was fairly significant really, only because it is the first time I had done it. It's just like any other bit of water really, but psychologically a bit of a milestone really to be still in the running.'
'But I did not cover myself in cold porridge or beat myself with a winch handle which I am sure some people would have wanted me to do, so it was really pretty calm and conventional, just pleased to get through unscathed really.'
'Now I have to just keep chipping away at those in front and try and win back some of the miles that I have lost.'
Jonny Malbon, Artemis II, GBR 20th + 693 miles:
'The last three days have been really, really difficult, unpleasant and quite frankly very, very frustrating. But, fingers crossed, this morning the last couple of hours, we seem to have broken through, into the first consistent breeze, 15 knots from 120 degrees, which is great because the boat speed is back up to 12 knots which is great. Even earlier this morning I was in a series of squalls, with the breeze shifting from 040 degrees to 150 degrees, and ranging from 6 knots to 30 knots.'
'It has been pretty agonising watching the scheds. One day I just parked up and I think I maybe did 30 miles, hopefully today I can pull back a few miles with a bit of boat speed and some positivity.'
'I am absolutely exhausted. Also yesterday I have been having a few problems with the charging system on the boat which lead to the Fleet 77 system going down, so I spent most of yesterday up and down trying to fix that. And so as of now I have no weather information.'
by Oktopod
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