Thirty hours into the 21st China Sea Race and the field has really spread out, with leader Jelik 149 nm ahead of tailenders Beluga Free and Carillon.

In the leading pack, Maligaya was 18 miles off the pace followed by Ffree Fire (-21nm) and Hi Fidelity (-25nm). Winds had still not picked up, although boats were predicting a shift in direction which might increase the pace. Jelik’s current ETA based on the race to date is 00:31hrs, Monday 1st April.

Hocux Pocux II, Red Baron, Helsall II and Australian Maid form the guard of honour to the leaders, while the remaining competitors are over 50nm behind Jelik.

Hocux Pocux II holds out hope for better racing conditions in days to come – as many of the boats have an ETA of Wednesday, it is hoped for the sake of the President’s Cup that their faith is not misplaced!

The crew from Hocux Pocux sent this message from the racecourse: “Still not too much wind, we are hoping for a big windshift to go from south-west to south and then around to south-east and hopefully in the next 24 hours it may go all the way round to north-east, If it does go to north-east, the big decision is if we are on the left and try to go downwind in light air it will be painful. However, if we are on the right hand-side and the north-east (if it arrives) is strong, then we will be beating/fetching where others will be square with a spinnaker, tricky! Hey?

We are still in the first 25 per cent of the race, so the going is still pretty slow. TWD here is SW and windspeed is below 5 knots.”

Positions (29 March, 1800hrs)

Jelik

Maligaya

Ffree

Hi Fidelity

Hocux Pocux

Red Baron

Helsal II

Australian Maid

Outrageous

Intrigue

Elektra

Windseeker

Rhythm Stick

Vida

Polar Star III

Groovy

Kam Loong

Ocean Girl

Bewitched

Zephyr

Dolphin Six

Johan II

Baringo

Lilla D

Body Shots II

Lady Luck

Irmgard

Carillon

Beluga Free