Phil Sharp sailing his Class 40 philsharpracing.com has further increased his lead over Gildas Morvan in the Route du Rhum overnight and is now nearly 200 miles ahead with just 50 miles to go.

Short of a major disaster, the young British sailor who’s currently sailing in a steady 8 kts, has the title in the bag and can now look forward to a hero’s welcome in Guadaloupe in a few hour’s time.

Fellow British sailor Ian Munslow retains third place 363 miles behind the leader having gained more miles overnight.

In Class 3 monohull Lia Ditton has also made significant gains overnight and now trails the leader – Michel Kleinjans – by just 152 miles. In an e-mail from the boat a happy Ditton said: “I have only 1,000 miles to go and The heat is on? I am gaining miles on class leader ‘Roaring Forty. Gearing up for a competitive run-in, I finally got energised and re-socked the ‘medium’ spinnaker and tied wool round the Code O. When the thing was up, I would bust open the wool threads [which I did]. I decided to take no chances on a repeat of yesterday’s mid-hoist un-furl.

“I shall leave you with a taste of this evening’s sunset. Let’s just say that today was a good day.”

Leading Class 2 monohull competitor Kip Stone is also about to finish. He has just 18 miles to go nearly 200 miles ahead of the young French sailor Servane Escoffier on Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine.