Day 5 0830 The ideal time for the projected IRC overall Fastnet Race IRC leader - James Neville's HH42 INO XXX - to reach the Fastnet Race finish in Cherbourg was by 20:30 hrs BST last night, in order to be still carrying some favourable tide while the breeze lasted. Well, she was there at 20:34. But her crew had little time to enjoy her exalted position, as a locally fresh westerly in the middle of the English Channel was having a very favourable effect on the projected placings of a small group of boats which had broken clear of calm conditions south of Land's End. They were racing towards the finish through the night to such good effect that one of them, ISORA sailor Andrew Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra from Pwllheli SC, was projected as becoming the new overall IRC leader.

But PN's moment of glory was relatively short-lived - the strengthening west-going ebb tide slowed her progress, and soon things were looking reasonably good for INO XXX again, such that when Pata Negra crossed the line around 08:00 this morning, the Neville boat was shown as corrected to more than two hours in the lead.

Pata Negra (Andrew Hall, Pwllheli SC) was shown for a while during the night as being the potential overall leaders of the Fastnet Race 2021, but when she finished at Cherbourg at 08:03 this morning she'd slipped back to real second behind INO XXX, and both boats are potentially challenged by the IRC 2 leader Sunrise, which had just ten miles to sail to the finish at 0900 this morning.

JPK 11.80 Sunrise closes on Fastnet finish

However, INO XXX faces a fresh assault on her exalted position, for although the bulk of the remaining fleet were held back by calm conditions in the Land's End/Isles of Scilly area last night, the IRC 2 leading boat Sunrise (Thomas Keen GB) a JPK 11.80, is closing in on the finish with just 20 miles to go at 0800, making 9 knots with a favourable tide with projections giving her the overall lead and the IRC win, while INO XXX retains the IRC Class 1 win.

INO XXX crew celebrate an excellent race Photo: Paul Wyeth

Meanwhile, things haven't been at all happy back in that area of often lumpy sea south of the Isles of Scilly and Land's End. In one part of it, very light airs or even complete calms had Kenneth Rumball and Pamela Lee in the leading Figaro 3 RL Sailing going virtually nowhere for a while, with a similar fate befalling the IRC 3 leader nearby, the JPK 10.30 Leon (Alexis Loison).

French Class 40 yacht Palanad reaches the finish line illustrating the near calm conditions on the Fastnet Race track Photo: Paul Wyeth

They have got going once more, but not before Shirley Robertson & Henry Bomby in the Sun Fast 3300 Swell were shown as having taken both the IRC 3 and the IRC 2-Handed lead, which they are indicated as continuing to hold with just under 150 miles to sail, but there may be a technical fault at HQ in this position indicating.

On-board technical faults may have played a key role in what has been been a hugely frustrating light airs night for the Murphy family's Nieulargo from Cork west and south of the Isle of Scilly. It will be recalled that for 24 hours shortly after the start, they'd to do without wind instruments, but with a strong and steady breeze and a fresh crew they were little hampered.

Nieulargo from Cork has had a frustrating night.

However, the area around the Isles of Scilly make for notoriously difficult sailing, and any crew need all the instrumental support they can get, so Nieulargo's fall from 8th in IRC 3 to 26th (in a class of 73) has been painful.

Meanwhile, in IRC 4, Irish Offshore Sailing's Ronan O'Siochru and Conor Totterdell from Dun Laoghaire racing the Sunfast 37 Desert Star have had a very good night of it, leaping from 13th up to sixth in class, and currently sailing at 5.6 knots on track for the finish 178 miles away.

Update 0930: Desert Star moves up to second in IRC

Tracker below