It’s still very tight on the Barcelona World Race leaderboard, although the morning appears to have brought more wind. Instantaneous speeds on the 0800 poll range from 5.3 on Paprec-Virbac 2 in second place to 9.8 on race leader PRB, who also have the highest average speed over the past four hours. ?
Vincent Riou, who’s currently leading the race with co-skipper Sébastien Josse on PRB, spoke last night about the what was in store for the night: “Things are good on PRB. Tonight is going to be another big question mark. We are all going to be parked up but I don’t know if that will mean the fleet comes back together again or not? There are little windless bubbles everywhere.

“Tonight in the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean) there are zeros everywhere. The aim is to get past Gibraltar as quickly as possible, the sooner we get there the more chances of heading west, and the situation is pretty hard as we are steering all the time. If someone isn’t at the helm all the time we just don’t move! Just hope things improve a bit!”

This morning Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall aboard Paprec-Virbac 2 in second place is giving PRB all it can handle as the latest position report has the lead down to just 4.8 miles. Speeds are up all around, with the spread ranging from a high of 10.2 on Paprec-Virbac 2 down to 6.6 on Mutua Madrileña.

The upwind sailing should give some options in terms of making gains on favourable wind shifts. With first through sixth place (Hugo Boss) separated by just 37 miles, nothing on the leaderboard at this stage is secure.

Current positions
1 PRB 24,207 miles to finish
2 Paprec Virbac 2 5 miles
3 Estrella Damm 20 miles
4 Temenos 2 25 miles
5 Delta Dore 28 miles
6 Hugo Boss 37 miles
7 Veolia Environnement 54 miles
8 Mutua Madrileña 58 miles
9 Educación Sin Fronteras 164 miles