Solo Sailor Tom Dolan has again moved up the placing in the 1350-mile Stage 1 of the Mini-Transat fro La Rochelle to Last Palmas in the Canaries, as the leaders grapple with light and fluky winds in the final 300 miles writes W M Nixon

Dolan’s tactic of holding to the west has taken him over towards Madeira, where his speed this morning of just 4.7 knots is slightly better than many of the widely spread front runners, and he has moved up five places from yesterday’s 16th.

Clarisse Cremer’s Production Class lead of yesterday had been narrowly regained by Erwan Le Droulac, but now she is back ahead with 6 miles in hand, making 3.7 knots to Le Draoulec’s virtually becalmed state of 0.9 knots, with 227 miles still to sail.

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