Today's Sailing News 

Europe 1 Solo Transat: New Monohull leader

For the Class I trimarans the race is more than half way over.  The lead trimaran Eutre Et Loir skippered by Francis Joyon has sailed 1524 miles.  1438 remain to the bows of the 60 foot trimaran.

This pace equates to an elapsed time of 9 days 14 hours under the race record of 10 days 9 hours.

Former race leader Alain Gautier trails by only 12 miles.  There are an additional 3 trimarans under 100 miles from Joyon's transom.  They have less than half the race to gain back these miles.

The monohull fleet has a new leader in Ellen Macarthur and Kingfisher.  2nd is Sill sailed by Roland Jourdain only 13 miles back.  These two boats have sailed near each other throughout the race.

Despite her lead postion Ellen Macarthur is still aware of difficulties reporting: "I'm certainly learning how hard it is to make these decisions when I'm tired, don't have all the information, and I'm alone. Another steep learning curve for me."

Also close is former race leader PRB 19 miles back.  

A second pack is Solidares (47 miles back) Team Group 4 (50 miles back) and Fila (80 miles back).  

Amongst the other Class I monohulls still racing problems abound:  Whirlpool and Active Wear have furler problems and Dominique Wavre has broken battens and a ripped mainsail.

The monohull fleet is heading north of west to get around the high pressure.  For the most part the direct route is the one being taken.  The past days has seen the fleet converge.  Fila which was formerly farthest south is now at 44°36' latitude which is quite close to Kingfisher's 44°55' latitude.

This would indicate that these professionals have read the wind correctly and will not suffer becalming from the high pressure.  

With the correct routing now chosen the race will turn into more a contest of speed and after a thousand miles of hard sailing- reliability.

With 3 of 4 days of racing and 7 of 9 races sailed the 27 boat Farr 40 fleet again has a new leader.  The regatta's 3rd overall is Southern Star from Australia.  

Southern Star gained the lead on a day of light to moderate air sailing.  Three races were sailed and 9 different boats had podium finishes.

Race 1 was won by Atlanti, followed by Barking Mad and Southern Star.  

Race 2 was won by Conspiracy, then Bit of a Coup and Invicta-Nerone.  

Race 3 went Corinthian Doors, Phish Food and Invicta-Nerone.

Invicta-Nerone was the top boat for the day.  However, Southern Star was consistent enough to take over the lead by 6 points by 6 points over defending champion Samba Pa Ti. Samba won the 1999 worlds coming back from 8 points back on the last day.  

For certain, Southern Star's lead is not safe.  

The Race Class catamaran Club Med is off to a record pace.  For the first 24 hours on the Discovery Route Club Med covered 387 miles an average of 16.2 knots.

Club Med has continued to sail faster.  This morning at 0600 GMT Club Med had covered 788 miles at an average speed of 17.7 knots.

Club Med has now passed the Discovery Route's turning waypoint the Canary Islands.  According to co-skipper Bruno Peyron now that Club Med has passed the Canaries: "We are now on a direct heading and we are going to try a few speed runs."

Also from Bruno Peyron, originator of The Race a description of the on board attitude: "A new generation of boat, newcomers to maxi-multihulls, Olympic champions and old hands of the Southern Ocean, all living the same impression. The impression of discovery and a small step into the unknown. Just how far can we push the boat ?"

Only 4 teams remain in contention for the USA Olympic Sailing teams Soling slot.  These 4 teams are facing off in a first to 7 wins semi finals.

Jeff Madrigali's team who completed the round robins 21-0 has won the first 5 races against Mark Mendenblatt's team.  

Ed Barird's team lost their first match to Andrew Horton's team.  They then sailed to 4 straight wins.

It appears that America's two highest ranked match racers will head to the finals and a chance at an Olympic berth.