Impatient to finish, Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm could only coax an average of 6.6 knots out of Bobst Group Armor - Lux overnight when the winds died away. "For an hour I drifted backwards and I had no idea when it would be over. I was getting really mad. The high-pressure is passing over and I’m too close to it now to go around. I’ll pick up a favourable wind on the other side, but it will hardly be blowing at all. For the moment, I’m moving forward at 6 knots, 60° off the direct course, which works out at an average of 3.2 knots towards my final destination. Fortunately, it’s not going to last too long".

A weak front is due to pass over Bobst Group Armor - Lux during this evening bringing a light northerly wind. That wind will slowly move into the southeast by tomorrow, but without any real teeth. All that Stamm needs is wind and his flying machine will do the rest. At that rate he will only see the skyline of Newport sometime early on Thursday May 1st.

The skipper that is reeling from the effects of the small high is Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet. Schwab and Class 2 leader Brad Van Liew on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America have stalled overnight and Ocean Planet was sailing at a shade under 4 knots. This morning Schwab described his feelings : "Unfortunately, now I am in hell, or rather, I have been completely parked up southeast of Bermuda while Simone gets away and Thierry catches up. Perhaps even Emma ? I am going insane !"

While Schwab watches his sails slat back and forth Thierry Dubois on Solidaires is positioned to the west of Ocean Planet further away from the High, and in a touch more breeze has managed to narrow the gap to only 30 miles. "I’ve been sailing ’a la Stamm’ this morning with the large spinnaker, my hands glued to the helm in a 25 knot breeze, surfing to the limit and even on the edge of broaching before I decided to furl the spi ? Shame it won’t last long but I’m well positioned for the next system."

Emma Richards on Pindar is also handsteering in a good 20 knot breeze. "I have had gennaker and full main and sailing downwind, hopefully the wind will come forward a little so I can take down the gennaker and power reach which will be faster again, but I’ll try not to be fussy now I at least have some wind !" With a 200 mile gap between Pindar and Ocean Planet and only 700 miles to go for Schwab, Emma is going to need more of her lucky breeze to pass her rivals before the finish.

Class 2 leader Brad Van Liew and second placed Tim Kent on Everest Horizontal are also caught in the calms, and no end of mental permutation with the weather files is helping them escape, as Van Liew discovered : "Here I sat for the most of the night with very little to no wind speed and therefore no boat speed. I was trying to decide between heading east or west but north was not an option. I can’t imagine being able to hold off the 60 footers especially Thierry, as he is very close, but it would be fun. My biggest focus needs to be to try and stay between Tim and the finish line."

Newport is also getting closer for Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of yukoh and Alan Paris on BTC Velocity, although they are running out of steady wind flow to the south east of the fleet. As Spring is in the air for those waiting at the Newport Shipyard, Kojiro describes the temperatures where he is and what he is hoping for at the end of his race : "It is cloudy and temperature is lower than 27 degrees and the winds have gotten weaker. May is coming. It is my birthday month. I will try to finish the race by May 8th, which is my birthday."

Derek Hatfield on Spirit of Canada ETA in Salvador is Thursday or Friday this week, as the first boats finish Leg 5 in Newport, Rhode Island.

POSITIONS AT 1400GMT 29th APRIL 2003

Class 1
– Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF
– 1. Bobst Group-Armor Lux 36 41.428 N, 67 33.701 W, 32.57 nm, 4.07 kt, 348 °T, 336.54 nm
– 2. Tiscali 33 09.160 N, 63 44.160 W, 48.70 nm, 6.08 kt, 292 °T, 616.72 nm
– 3. Ocean Planet 31 17.680 N, 64 16.360 W, 17.00 nm, 2.13 kt, 337 °T, 699.00 nm
– 4. Solidaires 32 56.520 N, 60 23.200 W, 63.23 nm, 7.90 kt, 333 °T, 731.30 nm
– 5. Pindar 30 28.428 N, 58 42.884 W, 45.78 nm, 5.72 kt, 3 °T, 899.11 nm

Class 2
– Boat Lat Lon AvgBsp AvgHeading DTF
– 1. Tommy Hilfiger 31 21.880 N, 62 43.080 W, 10.21 nm, 1.28 kt, 319 °T, 734.84 nm, 1
– 2. Everest Horizontal 28 35.210 N, 60 58.853 W, 22.56 nm, 2.82 kt, 339 °T, 924.15 nm, 2
– 3. Spirit of yukoh 24 44.186 N, 55 43.665 W, 43.85 nm, 5.47 kt, 338 °T, 1270.24 nm, 3
– 4. BTC Velocity 20 50.358 N, 54 48.588 W, 54.90 nm, 6.86 kt, 324 °T, 1495.23 nm, 4

* Spirit of Canada (Leg 4) at 13:00 GMT - 24 24. 000 S 37 00. 000 W, avg bt spd 7.5 kts

Overall Results in Points / Total Elapsed Time after 4 Legs

Class 1
– 1 Bobst Group-Armor Lux - 39pts / 97 days 23 hrs 7 mins 13 secs
– 2 Solidaires - 37pts / 98 days 9 hrs 57 mins 47 secs
– 3 Pindar - 27pts / 110 days 16 hrs 30 mins 23 secs
– 4 Tiscali - 26pts / 140 days 0 hrs 51 mins 41 secs
– 5 Ocean Planet - 23pts / 138 days 19 hrs 5 mins 45 secs
 
Class 2
– 1 Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America - 40pts / 128 days 0 hrs 0 mins 54 secs
– 2 Everest Horizontal - 35 pts / 148 days 0 hrs 15 mins 41 secs
– 3 *Spirit of Canada - 25 pts / 174 days 6hrs 47 mins 44 secs
– 4 Spirit of yukoh - 28 pts / 155 days 23 hrs 24 mins 44 secs
– 5 BTC Velocity - 23 pts / 174 days 6 hrs 47 mins 44 secs

* Spirit of Canada points & elapsed time after 3 legs only, 3rd place ranking based on his completion of Leg 4.