Just over half the fleet have rounded the Fastnet Rock in the Conway Media Round Ireland Yacht Race, with the leaders stretching their legs in plenty of breeze up the west coast. With between 14 and 20 knots of wind from an average direction of 200 degrees, those that have pointed their noses north up the west coast have been able to pull away, with Tonnerre de Breskens now 40 miles clear of the nearest challenger on the water, the Open 60 Spirit of Rosslare Europort. Tonnerre is off Slyne Head, with yesterday's overall leader, Inis Mor, 55 miles behind the leader and both are heading inshore, which would seem to be the smart thing to do, keeping them in the stronger band of wind for longer.
French Yacht Inis Mor is among the leaders at the halfway stage of this week's Round Ireland Race. Photo: Bob Bateman
The winds look like lightening and veering, which would mean the boats further inshore would not only be in stronger wind for longer, but when it does drop and veer, they will be on a hotter angle up the west coast than those further out.
The leader is now almost at the halfway point in terms of distance, while the boat bringing up the rear has covered approximately 25% of the total distance, a spread from top to bottom of 175 miles.
The top four are spread out over 70 miles, with fifth to eighth all within six miles of each other. From eleventh back, the fleet snakes from Dursey Island all the way back to Glandore.
Have your say on the racing in our forum thread HERE.
The race tracker is HERE, and the official site is HERE.
Results at 1500hrs yesterday are the most recent provided:
Overall 1st Inis Mor
2nd Visit Malta Puma
3rd Tonnerre de Breskens 3
IRC 0 Inis Mor
IRC 1 Visit Malta Puma
IRC 2 Psipsina
IRC 3 Alchimiste
Class 4 Cruisers Cavatina
Class 5 Classics Cavatina
Class 6 Sigma 38 Persistance
Class 7 Two Handed Daft.com