The 1500 GMT rankings then were rather mysterious. Amongst the IMOCA Imoca #IMOCA 60 ? monohulls Ellen was still leading but the rubber band that has been holding them together of late was at near breaking point. In just eight hours Ellen had got 24 extra miles on Mike.

The reasons it would seem are that after gybing away for most of the night to make the most of the wind shifts, Golding has started to sail a diurnal wind shift. This is a natural daytime phenomenon that is caused by air heating up and cooling down. On paper it doesn ?t look to be the most sensible option but Mike is experienced enough to be able to look at the big picture ? one that he hopes will see him wrapped in the finish line ribbon. His current strategy sees him closing the east west gap between himself and MacArthur.

Needless to say, Ellen has her own set of tactics too. In the next 24 hours and really the next 3 days, she will be basically broad

reaching in the downwind conditions in the trade winds on a direct route to Guadeloupe. She was straight-lining her Kingfisher on port gybe this morning and both Ellen and Mike have been revelling in the conditions, both at sea and in the race. Not surprisingly they are both heading towards the same victory highway as the one on which overall leader, Stève Ravussin, is currently cruising, foot down and windows down as far as they go.

To their stern Arcelor-Dunkerque has opened up a slightly bigger lead on Sill, whilst 6th placed Patrick De Radiguès aboard Garnier Belgium has not been very gallant amongst the other 60 ? monohulls. He has blazed past both Miranda Merron and Mike Birch, sending them tumbling down the rankings, 8th and 9th respectively. Garnier Belgium clearly knows a shortcut to the trade wind highway and is keeping it to himself.

Amongst the Class 1 monohulls Bruno Reibel has been in a class of his own since the start (literally) and Nick Moloney, leader amongst the Class 2 monohulls is gradually seeing his advance eaten away by the greedy Hervé Vachée now less than 50 miles away in second place aboard Mille Visages.

In the Class 3 monohulls Regis Guillemot on Storagetek seems to have forgotten that he blew one of his spinnakers earlier in the day and is not only still leader of his class but is consolidating.

Crêpes Whaou ! meantime, is continuing to fly high the flag of Saint Malo in the Class 2 multihulls, garnishing his advance on Anne Caseneuve with five extra nautical miles ? both are having a stunning race.

Amid the ORMA 60 ? multihulls the four remaining competitors have already won their own private battle just to still be in the running. Not content with that however Stève Ravussin, on his gliding bird Technomarine, is etching out even more of a lead on Lalou Roucayrol aboard Banque Populaire now 644 nautical miles to his stern. Now at just 9991.7 nautical miles from Guadeloupe, Ravussin will soon be able to smell the coconut aromas of victory. But it isn ?t over yet ?

DAILY ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION OF THE WEATHER FOR THE FRONTRUNNERS

The trade wind regime is still well established for the competitors leading the brave soldiers across the high seas.

Winds to become slightly lighter easterly 10-15 knots and shift slightly South - downwind conditions.

Ellen MacArthur ?I think speed-wise Mike and I are pretty evenly matched - it’s going to be a really tough race to the finish. I think the positions will change every single position report and it ?s going to take a lot out of us...

Right now, we’re sailing along with 18-19 knots of pretty much Trade

Wind breeze - now south side of the high pressure - as I’m now connected to the computer I can find out from grib files [Ellen has had no data transmission or collection possible for 5 days]. We’re sailing along pretty quickly although the pilot is struggling to steer so we’re kind of swerving round the ocean a bit - so although I’m talking to you but I’m keeping one eye and one ear on the wind angle for the boat to make sure we’re not about to gybe.

Last night was absolutely beautiful sailing along under clear night

sky, few fluffy clouds. There was a full moon, absolutely stunning sailing conditions - if you’re going to lose miles to someone its about the best way you can lose them in conditions like that !

Going up the rig not easy procedure at all... Basically, you have to

free-climb with your own hands all the way to the top which is

obviously quite tiring. Particularly, when mast is waving about in the sky. In order to climb the mast I had to take down spinnaker which was hanging on by the rest of its halyard - I was pretty tired when I set off up the rig in first case. You clip on at your waist and clip on to halyard and start to climb.

Have a few bruises, few marks on my neck from the strap I had around my neck to hold the jumar. The worst thing is your hands - they are like death... I can see the blood vessels through my skin and they are very, very sore. I ache all over from that climb but it’s done now, spinnaker back up - wonderful feeling.

Golding talked a little about when his spinnaker blew. ?It ?s blown up and I ?d nicknamed it ?stomper ? too ! The other spinnaker is doing fine though, so that ?s good. I ?ve had a really busy night, but still managed to get plenty of sleep. It ?s a lovely day here and I ?m really enjoying surfing down wind.?