Just over 24 hours after the start in Bilbao and the Velux 5 Oceans fleet are getting a pounding, with much more wind than what was forecast as they approach the notorious Cape Finistère.

Mike Golding reported at 1400hrs GMT this afternoon from ECOVER that he has just a very deep-reefed main up at the moment in mountainous seas.

“I have seen 70 knots and it is 63 knots at the moment. The seas are pretty friggin’ enormous now and the main thing is just to get through this and not break anything. There is not much I can do. I was caught out a bit and could not really get prepared for this because I was up the mast sorting out the halyard problem and even when I came down there was 40 knots so I didn’t have any time. It was OK then because the seas were relatively OK and flat, but they are big now.”

“I don’t know what happened with the lashing on the mainsail. It’s a brand new lashing so we are scratching our heads a bit on that one, but its done.”

Reliable position reports have not been confirmed from the race organisers.