Estrella Damm (Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes) has begun to shake off its followers this morning, and after two days of slow progress they have now reacquainted themselves with the breeze and are back up to 13 knots.
 
Just 32 miles back, Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant and Sebastien Audigane) also seem to have escaped the light patch which has now slowed Mirabaud to just under three knots in fourth.

Over on the west, Foncia remains the fastest boat on the course and has leapfrogged Dominique Wavre (SUI) and Michèle Paret (FRA) on Mirabaud (Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret) to climb to third, thanks to their gains to the south despite over 600 miles separating them from the leader’s course.

Fellow westerly followers, Virbac Paprec 3 (Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron) have also gained positions and are now fifth, while together both make key ground to the south-east in a solid 15 knot breeze. In the middle lane, MAPFRE (Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez) is currently lying sixth.

However, further back in the fleet the light winds have now slowed Renault ZE (Pachi Rivero and Antonio Piris), Neutrogena (Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier) and GAES Centros Auditivos (Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella), whose rankings have this morning reshuffled after what Dee Caffari described as: “A very difficult and tiring night. Rain clouds, shifty wind, variable strength has led us to sail in all directions of the compass but rarely the one we want to go in.”

Behind them, Central Lechera Asturiana (Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio), Hugo Boss (Andy Meiklejohn and Wouter Verbraak) and We Are Water (Jaume Mumbru and Cali Sanmarti) will each be hoping to evade the lull and hunt down the group ahead. However, each are taking a slightly different route – east for Central Lechera Asturiana and We Are Water, and slightly west for Forum Maritim Catala (Gerard Marin and Ludovic Aglaor), who is now just over 400 miles adrift of the leaders in 12th place.

To track the fleet, CLICK HERE.