Mighty scow back in front

Mini Transat competitors lining up for the Doldrums

Proto class positions at 0600 GMT

Series class positions at 0600 GMT

Charts above courtesy of Expedition/Tasman Bay Navigation Systems and PredictWind. Latest scheds below.

Approaching 10degN, the leaders in the Charente Maritime-Bahia Transat 6.50 (Mini Transat) are showing their strategies for getting through the next hurdle of the course - the Doldrums. At present wind satellite radar images are showing a depression forming over 20degW between 5-10degN and to the west of this region, where the Mini will be crossing the wind is more northerly than northeasterly and with the Doldrums formed between 2-5degN before the southeasterly trades build south of this.

In the Proto class, David Raison on his novel scow Team Work Evolution moved into the lead at the 1600 sched yesterday and at present is furthest south but also the furthest east. Overnight Raison has pulled out a 20 mile lead over second placed Thomas Normand on Financiere de l'Echiquier and 37 over third placed Bertrand Delesne on Zone Large. However while this trio is charging south, the group behind led by German Jorg Riechers on mare.de are getting some westing in, the traditional wisdom being that west is best when crossing the Doldrums. The benefit of this tactic is that at present to the north there is the usual area of high pressure so this westerly group will see the wind slowly veer east at which point they will gybe south.

The question will be - is west best this year? Remember the only weather info that the Mini skippers are receiving are reports via radio and they don't have the benefit of PredictWind GRIBs like we do or access to the internet to view satellite wind radar images. Long range forecasts are pretty useful for the Doldrums, so the skippers mostly base their tactics for the Doldrums crossing on statistics. While the Doldrums at present are looking reasonably narrow, within 24 hours this could all change.

Both that passed through the Cape Verdes to east seem to have done well over the last 24 hours, for in addition to David Raison, so in the Series class Eric Llull on Cocoa Noble, who applied this tactic, has taken the lead once again, with a 17 mile lead over second placed Bruno Simonnet on El Nono and yesterday's leader, Davy Beaudart on Innovea Environnement down to third nad 25 miles back from Llull. This trio have maintained their relative positions on the race course with Raison still furthest southeast and Beaudart furthest northwest, leading a group, which, as with the Protos, are taking the opportunity to get some west in.

The Brits - in 24th place in the Series class, Pip Hare on The Potting Shed has moved into the middle of the race track, 90 miles off the lead, while among the Protos Dan Dytch on Soitec is holding 15th place, 110 miles back from David Raison.

Meanwhile Mindelo in the Cape Verdes is becoming a busy place with Thibault Reinhard on the Proto Araldite having stopped there with power generation problems, along double Freeride skiing World Champion Aurélien Ducroz on Nissan, in there to repair his port rudder, Swede Ulf Brandström on GRPMS.com alongside with two broken rudders, while Amaury François on Groupe Qualitel has turned back there with not only a broken rudder but also a damaged transom, Brendan Archin on Association La Touline is also in there for reasons unknown, as is Mathieu Claveau on Okoume Les Chevaux du Beal, also with rudder problems. Araldite and Nissan have since departed.