Over 60 of the 89 boats have now completed the first leg of the Transat 6,50 Charante-Maritime/Bahia (Mini Transat) which started from La Rochelle, France a week ago.

The fleet is now based in Funchal, Madeira recovering from their 1,100-mile dash down the coast of France/Portugal.

Isabelle Joschke on her brand-new Finot-designe protoDegremont – synergiecrossed the line in the early hours of yesterday morning to claim first leg victory ahead of Sam Manuard onSitting Bulland Yves le Blevec onActualwho finished third see previous news story here. The first series boat (one-design) to finish just before 2100 last night wasCultisol – institut curiesailed by Stéphane le Diraison.

The best of the two Australian entries was Nick Brennan onRafikiwho crossed the line at 1921 last night finishing a creditable 22nd in his relatively old proto see previous news story here. Tom Briadwood sailingWombatfinished 26th. Although Briadwood is fairly disappointed with his result he’s feeling happy with the boat and now believes he can push it a bit harder on the next leg and says the thing he needs to work on now is sleep management commenting: “It was the quickest 7 days at sea I’ve ever had with barely a moment’s rest.”

Andrew Wood aboarddomosofa.comone of the two British entries crossed the finish line at 0120 this morning and finished 34th while team mate David Rawlinson onOceanchallenges.comfollowed in another five hours later, claiming 45th with a time of 6 days, 18 hours, 33 minutes and 51 seconds.

Because the race is scored on overall time rather than on positions, and given there is still over 3,000 miles to go, across the Atlantic (including the Doldrums) there is still everything to play for.

The race restarts from Funchal on Saturday 6 October. Keep an eye onyachtingworld.comfor news as it happens from the racecourse.