Illbruck is still holding a slim lead over Grant Dalton’s Amer Sports One on the final approaches to the Cape Town finish line.

Yachting World’s Matt Sheahan is at the Cape Town finish line and says that despite the predicted light winds in Table Bay, it’s currently blowing 28-30 knots which should produce an exciting finish. Although it’s difficult to predict the precise time of the first finish, Illbruck’s ETA is currently 2000 GMT (2200 local). Amer Sports One should follow half an hour after that.

With just a few hours to go before the first boats appear on the horizon, the carnival atmosphere in Cape Town is starting to build and partying will undoubtedly continue throughout the night. While most people will be enjoying the big celebrations, shore crews will be setting about the major tasks of preparing the boats for the next leg. There is a total of seven members of Illbruck’s shore team who are prepared to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to get the jobs done. “We will run full structural checks over the entire boat and rigging. We’ll inspect the hull with a fine tooth comb, check for any delamination and make sure the bottom is 100 per cent smooth again. At present the list isn’t too long but we may notice small things the crew might not necessarily have seen,” explained illbruck’s shore manager Tom Faire.

So as the time ticks by, IIlbruck’s win is looking more and more certain. The boat looks good, the crew are sailing the boat superbly and, bar a major gear failure, it seems that Amer Sports One will have to settle for second best.