Sir Robin Knox-Johnston fighting to recover lost ground

Clipper Race chairman and founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is still seventh in the Rhum class in the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe race.

However he did lose ground overnight following the front and is now 293.4 miles from new class leader, Andrea Mura. The Italian and second-placed Anne Caseneuve had a chance to get further south and avoid the front which came yesterday which saw two Rhum class skippers retreat into the nearest port to avoid the worst of the weather. And Rhum class skipper Bob Escoffier had to be airlifted off his yacht yesterday after he suffered major water intake from an unidentified cause.

Sir Robin is 40 miles from Jean-Paul Froc on Groupe Berto in sixth place, and is 11 miles in front of Finnish rival, eighth-placed Ari Huusela on Neste Oil.

Sir Robin explains his last 24 hours on board his Open 60, Grey Power:

The front passed over shortly after 0200 with a few gusts before hand which we were ready for and rode out safely. After allowing a little time for the waves to ease, I was able to shake out more sail and come round to a more desirable course for my game plan. The mainsail has had to wait until daylight as it was caught on the runners and I could not see to clear it.

That is now sorted. I lost quite a lot of distance on the others as a result of those headwinds so must concentrate now on trying to recover lost ground. Glad to hear Bob Escoffier is OK but sorry about the loss of his boat. Giving up smoking is easy!

RKJ

You can track Sir Robin and Grey Power here on the official race tracker.

It will update every hour during the race.

The Clipper Race will continue to post his blogs here as well.