Frenchman leads race by a whisker

As at 1100 BST this morning, Seb Josse and Vincent Riou are in an incredibly close-fought battle for first place in the Open 60 class of the Artemis transat.

Josse, sailingBTis currently 2 miles ahead of Riou, sailingPRB, and is making 12.8 knots.

The singlehanded transatlantic race started from Plymouth on Sunday, and the boats are currently west of Scilly with around 2750 miles to go to the finish line in Boston, USA.

Sam Davies is currently 8th, with fellow Briton Dee Caffari currently in tenth place. She sent this report this morning: “The good news is that I am now on my way to Boston on my first solo race, sailing a boat I have only known for five months. My start was okay yesterday, not where I should have been on the line in an ideal world, but I am always nervous manoeuvring these boats in the final minutes. The light conditions plagued us as we reached the Eddystone and I had to concentrate hard to keep the boat moving. Just after the final hour of favourable tide had gone I reached the Lizard gate, I still had a few boats in sight but visibility was closing in fast.

At one stage last night I could not see the top of my mast. Fog is spooky and I watched my radar well as there was still a lot of shipping close by. This morning it is now about a boat length’s visibility and already I have had my first test. Once again I have had trouble with my power onboard, my fingers are crossed that this does not plague me all the way across, especially as now is not the time to be without a radar!”

Current standings: Open 60
1st: BT
2nd: PRB
3rd: Foncia
4th: Gitana 80
5th: Brit Air
6th: Generali
7th: Safran
8th: Roxy

Class 40:
1st: Telecom Italia
2nd: Mistral Loisirs

Keep up with the race and see the full results as it unfolds here