Nannini and Peggs on SunGard Front Arena take first overall in fourth leg of RBI

LOWESOFT, UK: Marco Nannini and Paul Peggs sailing on Class 40 "SunGard Front Arena" have taken line honours in Lowestoft after the fourth leg of the Shetland Round Britain and Ireland Yacht Race.

The duo was leading the race in Lerwick with a margin of 31 minutes over second placed Fujifilm sailed by Alex Bennet and Malcolm Dickinson and have extended their lead to over 2 hours after a windy fourth leg of this race that saw the fleet battered by storm force winds.

"We saw the wind gusting up to 45 knots but the wind was not so much the issue, the sea state was horrible, very  confused with very steep waves typical of the North Sea" commented co-skipper Paul Peggs; "if you had asked me a few weeks back to bet a penny that we would be leading in Lowestoft i wouldn't have, it is truly amazing" he added.

"It's been a real tough leg, physically, we had to drive the boat by hand all the way and it required a lot of concentration in the heavy seas, we kept the pace through the rough and I was so pleased to see us coming in first, the pressure is now on for the last leg to Plymouth" commented skipper Marco Nannini.

Nannini and Peggs are due to restart for their final leg to Plymouth on tuesday at 18:32 local time.