Yann Eliès is computed to be less than a mile behind in third. Elies is tracking 109 miles to the north of Dick who is quickest of the top three at the moment.

 Michel Desjoyeaux meantime has opted to take a bite to the north east for the last 40 miles or so, lying in ninth place. His next target, ironically, is now Vincent Riou (PRB) who has slipped to eighth as Golding (Ecover 3) rises to seventh from the south, crossing the trail of Josse about 30 miles astern of the leader. 2004 winner Riou is 10.5 miles ahead of the 2001 victor.  Desjoyeuax records the best VMG of the fleet at 16.6 knots over the last 24 hours, while Derek Hatfield will be a more contented skipper knowing that he has posted his best speed and day’s run on Algimouss Spirit of Canada to 0930hrs this morning, 384 miles, second only to Bernard ‘the Bullet’ Stamm.  

The hunting pack remain pretty static on mileage to the leaders. Sam Davies (ROXY) has had virtually the same distance to the leaders for the last 24 hours – give or take a mile – although Dominique Wavre, SUI (Temenos 2) has gained 26 miles over that period.  

And the good news for the thirsty Johnny Malbon is that he has managed to get his water-maker working on the Artemis II.

While this race suffered its early casualties, losing four boats within the first five days, this was a bit of a black week in the 2004 race:

Saturday 4th December: the first person to officially retire from the race is Hervé Laurent on UUDS

Sunday 5th December: Alex Thomson heads for South Africa after his gooseneck fitting is ripped off.  Conrad Humphreys heads for Cape Town to replace his rudder without any external help. Mike Golding is 774 miles from the leader...

Tuesday 7th December: Vincent Riou grabs the lead.  Norbert Sedlacek thinks he will lose his keel.

Wednesday 8th December: Alex Thomson officially retires.

Thursday 9th December: Norbert Sedlacek officially retires.

Friday 10th December:  Conrad Humphreys sets sail again. Dominique Wavre spots an iceberg.