Vendée Globe

At the 1900 GMT ranking Mike Golding on Ecover was still making north to get an angle on the finish making about a mile of VMG but this should improve when he wheelbarrows round to change course. He is still about 50 miles from the finish having lost Ecover's keel this afternoon. At around 1700 GMT Mike Golding Yacht Racing confirmed that the keel had been lost, the boat sailing with full ballast under storm jib alone at the time. Golding remains resolute in his desire to complete this his final Vendée Globe and the NE’ly wind with a slight chop is not proving too much of a hinderance his course towards Les Sables d’Olonne.

At the 1900 GMT ranking Mike Golding on Ecover was averaging 2.2 knots of boat speed over the past four hours, 51 miles from the finish having made just 1.4 knots of VMG over that period having lost his keel. Mike Golding Yacht Racing confirmed the damage at around 1700 GMT, the boat then sailing with full ballast under storm jib alone. Golding remains resolute in his desire to complete this Vendée Globe and the NE’ly wind with a slight chop is not hindering his course towards Les Sables d’Olonne. 580 miles W of Vigo, Dominique Wavre on Temenos is 858.5 miles behind the unfortunate British skipper, Sébastien Josse on VMI 27.1 further back. Wavre and Josse are still locked in battle, respectively making 9.7 and 9.5 knots of boat speed over the past 4 hours. The best 24 hour progress of the fleet goes to Jean Pierre Dick on Virbac Paprec, the skipper from Nice making 268.6 miles, 2200 miles from the finish. About 800 miles behind him, Joé Seeten is 26.5 miles ahead of British skipper Conrad Humphreys, the duo out of the Doldrums today. American Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet is just 576 miles south of the equator tonight 11 knots of boat speed making the best VMG of the fleet. KJ and AR

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