After 2500 miles of hard ocean racing it has become a horse race to the finish between Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm sailing Bobst Group Armor Lux, and Frenchman Thierry Dubois on Solidaires. In a frantic effort to reel in Stamm, Dubois has been pushing his yacht to its limit and in doing so has set a new 24 hour distance record for the Around Alone.

Between 1500 UTC Sunday and 1500 UTC Monday Dubois sailed an incredible 400.7 miles averaging 16.69 knots for the period. While Dubois has set a blistering pace that adds 5 miles to the previous record set four years ago by Marc Thiercelin, he is still quite a bit short of the 24 hour monohull speed record held by illbruck and set on Leg 7 of the recent Volvo Ocean Race.

While Stamm and Dubois hammer it out at the front of the pack, there is another close race for 3rd taking place between Hexagon (Graham Dalton), Garnier (Patrick de Radigues) and Tiscali (Simone Bianchetti). There is a mere 12 miles separating the three boats. In Class 2 Brad van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America is still hanging on to his commanding lead.