Oh dear, day 4, not even down at Cape Finisterre and already the novice sailor and the French tightrope walker in their Class 40 Mowgli are 180 miles adrift of leader Giovanni Soldini. That gap is going to grow…

Meanwhile, all hail to the great Soldini. And two very solid British performances so far to keep an eye on are Simon Clarke and David Lindsay on Clarke Offshore Racing. Clarkee was boat captain for Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss and this is his debut. He’s lying 7th out of 30.

And there’s Peter Harding and Anne Liardet on 40 Degrees. Peter’s day job is as a fund manager and property developer and he had never sailed short-handed until this spring; he says he never even worked on the bow. So 9th place is going some.

Check them all out on TJV’s excellent race viewer .