It’s 15:30 Paris time and the Volvo tracker chart shows what looks as if it must have been a Chinese gybe by Telefonica – like Team Russia in 2008-9. Now they’re back doing 28 knots with the other doing around 23… There’s going to be quite a story when they tell it.
News at last. It turn sout that they broke a rudder, and managed to fit a spare. Their speed went up and down for a while, but the latest leaderboard shows them in second place by 0.6nm. All four leading boats are within 3.6nm, and their instantaneous speed vary wildly between 20 and 26 knots. Windspeeds are between 35 and 40 knots, and the seas must be building up and making the boats difficult to handle.