As he lead across into the ocean which he remarked recently that he has always found more conducive to higher speeds, he has nearly doubled his lead since yesterday afternoon and now has just over 80 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), while Seb Josse (BT) in third has lost a little against the pace of Mich Desj but has stayed very even with Jourdain.

Ever the maverick, happy to follow his own path, Jean Le Cam spent some miles investigating the potential for returns in the south, and presently he is the quickest of the gang of four. He could well be narrowing the 233 mile gap with the leader in the coming hours.

Since he grabbed the lead, the skipper of Foncia has less and less to say and no longer informs us of his feelings.  He is setting a pace that Roland Jourdain may not be able or willing to keep up for very long.  His pursuit of a second Vendée Globe victory leaves less and less room for sharing and comradeship now.

Some relationships break up over time, some endure. After nearly six weeks at sea and close to half of the course completed, some of the matched duos and partnerships who have raced closely for weeks are now starting to feel the strain.  Jourdain and Le Cam on the near identical 2004 Lombard designs have now nearly 110 miles between them, but the Vincent Riou (PRB) and Armel Le Cléac’h pairing stays solid at around 40 miles apart.

Dee Caffari (Aviva) is steadily distancing herself from Arnaud Boissières and is now nearly 53 miles ahead, while Steve White (Toe in the Water) has sorted out his autopilot problems which plagued him the last 36 hours and he is now making good progress.

The span front to the back of the fleet is now 3700 miles, or some two weeks sailing time.