Spirit of Southampton is still out in front of the Round Britain Challenge fleet but now has just a two mile lead, with LogicaCMG snapping in second and The Daily Telegraph now having moved up into third. With just 14 miles separating the top four yachts first place is up for grabs once again.

The yachts which moved closer inshore last night, predicting a different wind shift to the rest of the pack, profited and made up vital miles on the leader, which eventually turned in shore later. BG Group lost miles, as did Spirit of Hong Kong.

The fleet is filtering down the East Anglian coast and through the Thames Estuary where their next challenge will be to negotiate the tidal gates right the way down the rest of the east coast.

Duggie, skipper aboard LogicaCMG noted in their daily log that it’s all about tactics now, which will make the difference at this vital stage of the race explaining: “we have been almost neck and neck with BG for what seems weeks. We split yesterday following different ideas and will be interesting to see who gets the advantage.”

These final few miles will be about boat speed and, as Spirit of Hong Kong explains, their yacht echoes with the regular call of: “Trim-on which can be heard from the deck, (the call to fine tune the sails to optimise boat speed – winning power) so it is time to get back on deck and get on with some work.”

Although it’s still difficult to tell exactly when the first yachts are due to arrive in Ocean Village, Southampton the first ETA has been put at some time tomorrow afternoon.

Latest Positions

1st Spirit of Southampton

2nd LogicaCMG

3rd The Daily Telegraph

4th BG Group

5th Basilica

6th Spirit Of Hong Kong

7th Vail Williams

8th Team Spirit