Light winds have plagued the Calais Round Britain fleet for the first half of the race, but all the fleet are now into the descent of the North Sea, with Dee Caffari at the back of the pack rounding Shetland yesterday evening. The leaders, fronted by Vincent Riou’s PRB (pictured) are now level with Aberdeen. The bulk of the original eleven Imoca monohulls are now snaking downwind through the oil fields East of the Scottish mainland in an average of 10/15 knots of breeze, playing the wind rotations under gennaker or spinnaker; manoeuvres and sail changes the order of the day. Forecasts indicate a reduction in speed for the leaders as they hit their first zone of light winds and suffer a likely compression of the fleet.

ETAs have now stretched to this Wednesday 13 June, and with more windless zones
forecast further down the track en route to Calais, Caffari and co still hope for a complete reversal in the rankings prior to the finish.

Position report 10/06:

1. PRB, Vincent Riou, 354.80 nm to finish
2. VM Materiaux, Jean Le Cam, 29.70 nm to leader
3. Delta Dore, Jeremie Beyou, 35.80
4. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 43.70
5. Artemis Ocean Racing, Jonny Malbon, 77.90
6. Roxy, Samantha Davies, 102.50
7. Maisonneuve, Alexandre Toulorge, 108.10
8. Generali, Yann Elies, 138.70
9. Akena Verandas, Arnaud Boissieres, 148.80
10. Cheminees Poujoulat, Bernard Stamm, 152.00
11. Aviva, Dee Caffari, 315.90