Tuesday 19:30 hrs – Although Guy Gillon’s Botin 56 Khumbu is now past Rathlin and seemingly on a different planet to the rest of the fleet - where the front-runners are closing in on passing Tory Island at the other end of the North Coast of Ireland – the Botin was still being shown on IRC Corrected Overall to be third, with Gery Trentesaux continuing to lead in Courrier Pogo, and Johnny Murphy second in the J/109 Outrajeous.

On top of that, Khumbu is now pushing the full force of the ebb tide in the North Channel, all the way down to the South Rock light-float off the County Down coast, with the favourable flood not beginning until around 0100 hrs tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

Yet even with the adverse tide she’s shown at 9 knots, but the expected wind – brisker here than back off Donegal - is if anything too favourable, if you can imagine such a thing. For the forecasts indicate that Khumbu will have a dead run all the way to the finish, which involves carefully calculated tacking to lee and ultimate VMG limits, whereas a nice hairy broad-reach offers endless possibilities.

Nevertheless it looks increasingly as though Mystic Meg’s prediction on Friday of a Khumbu win every which way is increasingly likely. For even if she’s not on the home straight, she’s on the one next to it, whereas the uncertainties applying to all the rest of the fleet are much more numerous.

CLASS 40 IMPRESSES

Leading them is a clutch of Class40 boats, which have made their mark in this Round Ireland in a big way. Thus the on-water placings have Khumbu first, then Class 40 VSF Sports, Macaferria Futura, Solano and Magenta before a civilian pops up in the form of gallant old Venomous at sixth.

Class Act — VSF Sports powers away from the Round Ireland Race start. The Class 40 was among a remarkable group of offshore racers leading the fleet on the water as the race entered its decisive northern phase

The usual private battles are now well-developed, a notable ding-dong being between Frank Whelan’s Sydney 43 El Syd from Greystones, and Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise from Plymouth, and sailing for the Royal Irish YC. The only problem is that they’ve very different ratings, with Sunrise currently lying third overall on Corrected, while her sparring partner El Syd is fifteenth.

Dolan's Day — Irish offshore ace Tom Dolan, pictured left on the rail aboard Courrier Pogo at the Round Ireland Race start. The Trentesaux-Dolan partnership led overall on IRC by Tuesday evening

The corrected placings as of 19:15 were 1st Courrier Pogo, 2nd Outrajeous, 3rd Khumbu, 4th Bellino, 5th Sunrise, and 6th The Big Picture. But when we remember that Khumbu has been as far back as 35th earlier in the race, her crew’s skill in getting the mostest there the fastest suggests an inexorable progression.