The small Saint Pierre train

Victorien Erussard and his three crew now have a deficit of 250 miles on the leader but they have managed to get away from the trimaran "Imagine" skippered by Pierre Antoine, the latter having just passed Saint Pierre. Laiterie de Saint Malo meantime have also extended their to around one hundred miles over "Forget Formation" skippered by Pascal Quintin and "Prince de Bretagne" driven by the Brest sailor Hervé Cléris now neck and neck. These two multihulls are approaching the Saint Pierre mark ahead of a ‘mob' of Class 40s still led by the Italian legend, Giovanni Soldini. The much awaited rotation of the wind to a SSW'ly is now in force and on easing the sheets the 40 foot monohulls have seen their speedometers soar. Making 10 knots along the route, they are this morning plunging towards Saint Pierre et Miquelon where the inhabitants of the archipelago are awaiting them with curiosity. A compulsory passage mark, the fleet is strung out virtually single file in the wake of Telecom Italia and they are still sailing within sight of each other when the fog deigns to lift, as is evident in the ghostly image of "Destination Calais" skippered by Pierre-Yves Chatelin sent by the English crew skippered by Peter Harding on 40 Degrees. The two boats crossed tacks within 20 metres of each other after 5 days of racing. Halvard Mabire and his series Pogo are still keeping up with the pace against the Protos of Giovanni and Tanguy De Lamotte (Novédia Group). 10 yachts are sailing within a 17 mile zone and solely Philippe Vallée and his Groupe Sefico have been unable to close the gap on the frontrunners owing to a tricky rounding of the SW tip of Newfoundland.

Penalised by ballast tank issues (he is scooping out two buckets every hour!), the Belgian Christophe Bullens and his 60 footer "An Ocean of Smiles", who is sailing in support of children with HIV, is accelerating fast to the south of the fleet. As forecast, they are benefiting from the pitstop at Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, of the 60 foot Imoca "Cervin Enr" skippered by Yannick Bestaven to jolly along at the head of the Fico class. Bestaven yesterday envisaged a repair of his damaged rudder bearing of at least 24 hours. As Georges Leblanc (Port de Québec) passes off Port aux Basques during the course of the day, he should step up into second place in his class