New Zealand's entry rounded the Fastnet rock off the Cork coast 24 hours and 15 minutes after leading the fleet off the Wicklow start line on Saturday.
Check in times rounding the Fastnet Rock – that will be be available this morning – (Monday) will be key to finding the handicap leader as the boats head north up the west coast.
If Konica Minolta is to beat a sub-three day time and establish a new race record she needs to be back in Wicklow by tomorrow (Tuesday, July 4th) at 4pm.
At 100-foot she towers over her opposition but Niall Dowling's 42-foot J133 Jeronimo remains unphased. Dowling made really good work of the light conditions inshore all the way along the 100 mile South coast stage of the 7040-mile race.
The Royal Irish Yacht Club entry, with 1996 winner Michael Boyd on board is making an impressive debut.
Other front runners include Minnie the Moocher (Anthony Richards) Solune (Jean-Phillipe Chomette) as well as Limerick's Sydney Hobart winner Chieftain/Altana (Ger O'Rourke) were expected to sail a close hauled course to the Rock and be there by midnight last night.
On handicap reckonings Jeronimo has until 4am this morning to make the Fastnet rock and become the handicap leader for the overall prize. Minnie the Moocher needs to be round at 0230 am. Chieftain had to round by 10.10pm last night.
The two Volvo 60 entries, Lyons solicitors and Spirit of Kilrush needed to round by 8pm last night to become handicap leaders.
Calculating interim handicap positions, however, in this race continues to be notoriously unreliable as the only times are called in by radio to a series of check in points at coastguard stations. Some boats call in late, some early and some even forget. The situation is barely improved this year by the organisers efforts at satellite tracking devices fitted to boats.
A tracking map on the competition website (www.roundirelandyachtrace.ie) show the relative positions of the boats but, for example, gives no position for the fleet leader or many others so it's value appears to be little more than a gimmick.
The benign conditions may not be the stuff of records but there have been no retirals in the 39- boat fleet so far and Saturday afternoon's upwind start in a good sailing breeze of 15 knots gave spectators views of one of the most varied fleets for years.
From the start front runners benefited from the decision that the wind was going to shut off at the coast and went offshore to get through the high pressure ridge moving west and into the North East breeze on the other side of it.
By this morning that appeared to have worked well - Anthony Richard’s on Minnie the Moocher, a 38 footer was one of the skippers to employ this tactic and yesterday morning he could see much bigger boats such as the 50 foot Chieftain and the 60 foot Solune about a mile off Minnie’s beam.
The smallest boat in the fleet and the 2004 handicap winner, rechristened Teng Tools, for the 2006 circumnavigation and skippered by Eamon Crosbie is defending its title but was not expected to make his mandatory check in at the Fastnet until some this morning keeping her in the overall running as the fleet pass the half way stage today.
