The gap between the Clipper boats in the north and the south, during their sixth leg from Hawaii to Yokohama, has increased over the last 24 hours with those in the north benefiting from more breeze.

Commenting earlier this morning Richard Butler aboard Bristol Clipper said: “This really isn’t going according to plan with the northern boats making lots of progress and us and Jersey much less. Even so the next couple of days look much better for us, but it will take quite a lot to recover from the last couple of days.”

New York Clipper has been able to make the most of what some may have considered quite a daring move earlier in the week, by heading north to cover the leading group much sooner than expected. This has proved most beneficial for Sam and her New York crew, earning the greatest distance run over the past 24 hours with a distance of 176 nautical miles.

The London Clipper crew, led by Rory Gillard, have been able to consolidate their lead once more – but for how long? The lead has changed back and forth between the top three boats many times over the last ten to twelve days and the following group are by no means going to let newcomer Rory out of their sights.

Meanwhile the Cape Town Clipper crew are still battling hard and have been a little unfortunate to not benefit from the breeze increases further north of them as yet. It will be interesting to see how their position changes over the next 48 hours as a cold front is expected to pass, which may see them once more in a favourable position. This may also see the leading group returning to a more southerly heading.

Liverpool Clipper has been extremely consistent throughout all of the sparring of the leading group. Their daily runs show them to have been affected with almost the same weather conditions as the frontrunners and they have not lost any ground on the leading group.

Latest Positions

03:00 UTC 26 February 2003

Pos, Yacht, Distance to Finish (nautical miles)

1 London, 1396.1

2 Hong Kong, 1442.1

3 Glasgow, 1468.6

4 Liverpool, 1481.2

5 New York, 1541.8

6 Bristol, 1605.1

7 Cape Town, 1618.9

8 Jersey, 1654.2