Sungard Front Arena first at longitude of St Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight - Fujifilm just behind

It's been a tense 24 hours since we passed Dover in first, our lead over
Fujifilm was gradually reduced during the course of the night and at one
stage was eroding real fast, as we had hit the a new flow of adverse
current in light airs allowing the distinctively green boat to close in
to as little as 8 miles while enjoying slightly better conditions
behind us.

The long sleepless night saw us tacking endlessly within a band of wind
that seemed to hang some 5 miles offshore, we didnt want to go to far
off in the channel but too close to land and the wind would shut off.
The rest of the class 40 seemed to follow a similar strategy and by
sunrise the positions were unchanged, our lead marginally improved to
about 9.5 miles after many apprehensive hours constantly checking for
wind, boat speed, tidal streams and that elusive 6-8 knots light air.

With these light winds we feel quite tense as the lead we have is
miniscule in the face of a light patch of air or the strong tidal
streems we will face when the tide turns again against the leading
boats.

This race is absolutely amazing, to think that after 1800 miles the
leading 5 boats are all within 2 hours or so of one another and that it
can still be anyone's win! It must be a great show to watch, but i hope
our nerves will hold till the end!