The first 18 hours have not disappointed Mike Golding aboard Ecover. This morning the tired co-skippers Golding and Dominique Wavre are set to have their unsettled night followed by stronger winds and bigger seas.

Ecover has continued to hold a close second place, hard on the heels of Sill et Veolia but had a slight deficit of 4.2 miles on Roland Jourdain and Ellen MacArthur at 04:00hrs (GMT) this morning.

Mike reported this morning that the wind had just built to 40 knots with a corresponding increase in the size of the swell. “It?s pretty uncomfortable. Bloody windy. Big seas and it has really just pipped up in the last quarter of an hour.”

Problems with one of the autopilots has not added to their limited enjoyment overnight. Golding continued:

“We have had big problems with the pilot, something to do with the wiring. I think we know what it is and, hopefully, have managed to resolve it. We should be able to fix it, but have one working, reliable pilot so it should be OK.” He reported at 0700hrs GMT this morning.

“I have laid down a couple of times but not slept. Dominique is catching up on a little bit just now.”

It has been a relatively straightforward tight reaching leg out of the English Channel, with Ecover benefiting from a turbo boost from the favourable current of the Alderney Race last night.

“I don’t think we are in a bad position at the moment. It’s pretty wild and wet, but the wind should shift some time today and we should be able to get on to the other tack and head south. The wind should moderate a bit again and be not too horrendous.”