Top four boats at Barcelona World Race cross 4th scoring gate

[Source: Barcelona World Race] Paprec-Virbac 2 has led the top four boats through the fourth scoring gate over the past 24 hours. The race leader passed the gate to complete the fourth stage at 22:42 on Saturday night.

Skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall were followed by Veolia Environnement (02:19 this morning) and Hugo Boss (05:25). This afternoon, Delta Dore became the fourth boat to cross the scoring gate this afternoon (13:37).

The leading two boats have added slightly to their lead over the past day, sailing in slightly better conditions than the others. On the 16:00 GMT report today, the top three boats were all racing along at over 19 knots of average speed. The trailing boats are further north than the leaders and are looking for an opportunity to get south.

Temenos II skipper Dominique Wavre spoke on the video-conference today about the strong winds and big waves they had been sailing in over the past day or so. He says the auto-pilot is doing the bulk of the steering, with the boat surfing at speed down enormous, rolling swells. He says their top speed surfing is 34 knots and emailed in a photo of the knotmeter as evidence!

PRB, after losing the top few metres of its mast yesterday, continues to head unassisted towards Cape Town. The team has less than 400 miles to go and has been making good progress at about 10 knots. Skippers Vincent Riou and Seb Josse should make landfall at some point overnight Monday or into Tuesday.

Day 29 – December 9, 16:00 GMT – Position report with distance to leader

1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL – 0
2. VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT - Roland JOURDAIN / Jean Luc NELIAS - 82
3. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE - 125
4. DELTA DORE - Jérémie BEYOU / Sidney GAVIGNET - 312
5. PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien JOSSE – 572
6. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 647
7. ESTRELLA DAMM - Guillermo ALTADILL / Jonathan MCKEE - 919
8. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO - 990
9. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES - 1720

In Quotes – Sidney Gavignet, Delta Dore: “We have typical conditions (for here), maybe about three or four metres of sea state…sometimes some very big surfs down the waves at up to 25 or 27 knots with the autopilot steering Delta Dore…I think we can push more than we are without putting the boat in danger. It’s good and fast, which is what we like. We like sailing here, but we like to pass through as fast as possible.”