Looking at the figures from the 1900 GMT ranking, it is interesting to note that the top six have all made over 300 mile averages, except for Jean Le Cam who has lost 20 miles somewhere along the racetrack today. Equally puzzling are the self-professed “caveman tendancies” of fourth placed Sébastien Josse (VMI), revealed to his shore crew this afternoon. The latter earlier admitted to sealing himself off down below to escape the breakers that take five hours to recover from, intent on “completing this Vendée Globe in one piece. Whether his game plan has changed in the past four hours is difficult to say but what is clear is that he has the highest boat speed over the past half hour and the past four, with over 18 knots boat speed... Fifth placed, yachtsman of the year candidate with Raymarine, Mike Golding (Ecover) is keeping a good pace with a better VMG (speed towards the goal) than his compatriot Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), the latter nonetheless boasting the best 24 hour average with 14.6 knots boat speed. He is currently 30 miles north of the island of Tristan da Cunha, 386 miles south east of Bruce Schwab (Ocean Planet) who is the most southerly of the second group of “1000 mile plus” skippers. This latter group is comprised of 13 boats, laterally strewn across 267 miles all swerving dead east, set to encounter their first depression in two days time... Author KJ

Source: Event Media