Mike Golding has overtaken Alex Thomson and now holds second place in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

Golding took advantage of his southerly position and slipped through Thomson yesterday but this morning the battle continues with Thomson just 30 miles astern of Golding.

Golding commented: “He [Thomson] is trying to come down now, but I think that he is getting his timing wrong and in fact he is going to be coming south when we are going to be wanting to get back north, so I think he is getting a little out of sequence.

“He lost most of his miles in the soft spot and to be fair I did not see that as a calm, I just saw there to be slightly more breeze to the south. Most of the miles I have gained on him, I have gained out of that.”

Meanwhile 484 miles ahead is race leader Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat who is currently making 9 knots towards Kerguelen islands while the boys behind are trucking along at almost double the speed. However, according to Stamm he is about to hit big winds which means he could arrive in Fremantle within two weeks.