As the Transat 6,50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia (Mini Transat) fleet passes through the Doldrums the concertina effect is starting to come into play.

Event favourite Yves Le Blévec still dominates proceedings but his 80-mile lead has been eaten away over night in the light conditions to just 32 miles. Adrien Hardy on Brossard has been snapping at the leader’s heels for most of the leg and is now starting to cause a real threat.

But it’s not just Hardy, the next three boats – David Sineau, Nick Brennan and Ronan Deshayes – have just seven miles between them which means positions will undoubtedly change within the next few hours.

Isabelle Joschke who was forced to take a pitstop yesterday into the Cape Verde Islands to carry out the repairs to her damaged spinnaker sprit/jockey pole stop on her brand-new PrototypeDegremont-synergieis now lying 62nd.