Round Ireland Race Day Five (Wednesday) 1500 hrs - Time was when most crews thought they’d had a crisp and efficient Round Ireland Race if they were finished by the Thursday evening. But George David’s sensational circuit with Rambler 88 in 2016 seems to have changed everyone’s perceptions and expectations in an enduring way, and people start getting restless if somebody isn’t back across the Wicklow finishing line by Tuesday morning.

Yet here we are, well into Wednesday afternoon, but there’s no finisher yet, and over much of the course between Malin Head and the finish, the seas are so windless and flat, with the skies so monochrome grey, that exhausted sailors are losing their bearings - and their sense of what is up and down - to such an extent that there’s talk of this all being a trial run for the Ending of Days.

Which way is up? In the ultra light airs it is hard to know which is sky and which is sea! This shot from the Round Ireland race course was taken just below Belfast Lough off the Skulmartin rocks

As it is, today at various times we’ve seen both the leader on the water and the IRC overall leader lose steerage way to such an extent that they were pointed in exactly the opposite direction to that intended.

It happened first to the IRC leader SL Energies, the French J/11I, to the southeast of the entrance to Strangford Lough, and an hour or so ago it happened to line honours leader Kuka3 off Greystones, just 10.5 miles from the finish and already in the disagreeable position of battling an adverse tide until around 19:00 hrs this evening.

But meanwhile, other boats have been taking full advantage of private zephyrs, and back in the North Channel Mike & Richie Evans’ J/99 Snapshot (HYC) has been hanging in like a limpet to maintain her IRC lead, with SL Energies on the go again to lie second, while Rockabill VI (Paul O’Higgins RIYC) is staying well in touch in third.

And there are of course intriguing inter-boat races all down the line, with few as fascinating as the match between the Class40s Kite and Infuence which – after going their separate and sometimes eccentric ways at earlier stages of the race – have now come together again to be neck and neck as they make best use of the south to the southeast breeze which can currently be found in the big bight in Ireland’s East Coast between Howth Head and St John’s Point.

Race Tracker & Data below. Live Dublin Bay webcams here