A week after the restart in Lazarote the leaders have passed the Cape Verdes and now have 1800 miles to go to the finish in Salvador.

This mornings position report shows British multihull sailor Brian Thompson back into the hot spot. However, Frenchmen Yves Le Blevec and Yannick Bestaven in second and third place respectively are both within two miles and positioned more to the east.

At this stage with such a distance to go anything can happen and positions change daily. British woman Sam Davies is now the leading woman in the race placed tenth, with Jeanne Gregoire dropping back to 20th position, possibly with problems but nothing has been reported so far. Briton Simon Curwen aboard QDS is this morning in sixth place.

The fleet are experiencing force 3-5 north-easterlies and a fairly mixed-up sea. So far two Minis have retired from the leg, Armel Tripon who suffered auto-pilot failure, and Eric Vassard who took a blow to the head and broke his boom is now in hospital under observation. Both are from the one-design Pogo fleet. Several boats are also reported to have stopped in the Cape Verdes to repair damage including Antoine Cornic aboard Oceanic .

Paul Peggs is in 21st position with Ian Munslow in 24th and Mike Inglis in 27th.

Positions below:

Positionnement proto au 18/10/2001 10:41:00 GMT

Position – Nom du coureur et du bateau, N°, Latitude, Longitude – dist. au but (en milles nautiques)

1 – Brian Thompson sur Lighthouse Life Foundation, n°247 – 14°08.20′ N, 25°57.88′ W – 1812,1

2 – Yves Le Blevec sur Actual Interim, n°151 – 13°56.08′ N, 25°25.35′ W – 1813,1

3 – Yannick Bestaven sur Aquarelle.com, n°304 – 14°02.51′ N, 25°36.85′ W – 1814,7

4 – Ronan Guérin sur L’Artisanat, 1ère entreprise de France, n°348 – 14°26.38′ N, 25°50.56′ W – 1831,6

5 – Benoît Parnaudeau sur Région Poitou-Charentes, la dynamique Atlantique, n°260 – 14°57.28′ N, 25°33.48′ W – 1866,5

6 – Simon Curwen sur QDS, n°240 – 15°02.95′ N, 25°44.18′ W – 1867,9

7 – Arnaud Boissières sur Aquarelle.com, n°303 – 15°09.23′ N, 25°51.35′ W – 1871,1

8 – Corentin Douguet sur Pour que l’océan reste bleu, n°347 – 15°07.73′ N, 25°46.06′ W – 1871,6

9 – François Lucas sur Marins Sans Frontières, n°231 – 15°13.03′ N, 25°48.76′ W – 1875,6

10 – Samantha Davies sur Aberdeen Asset Management, n°276 – 15°15.66′ N, 25°55.40′ W – 1875,7

11 – Samuel Manuard sur Tip Top / Charmilles Sales, n°258 – 15°17.28′ N, 25°40.56′ W – 1882,5

12 – Jean-Christophe Caso sur Euroformalités, n°132 – 15°20.45′ N, 25°42.58′ W – 1884,7

13 – David Raison sur auti-Park/Kley France, n°232 – 15°21.93′ N, 25°43.32′ W – 1885,8

14 – Damien De Pas sur Ciné-Groupe, n°305 – 15°21.63′ N, 25°41.28′ W – 1886,2

15 – Antoine Cornic sur Océanic, n°135 – 16°02.66′ N, 25°27.36′ W – 1929,3

16 – Karen Leibovici sur Radicalboat.com, n°198 – 16°14.43′ N, 25°31.55′ W – 1938,8

17 – Gaël Bigot sur Team 117, n°117 – 16°17.13′ N, 25°21.53′ W – 1944,8

17 – Benoît Lequin sur Aixlesbains.com, n°33 – 16°19.51′ N, 25°27.76′ W – 1944,8

19 – Xavier Devillard sur Russe Noir, n°227 – 16°23.03′ N, 25°34.90′ W – 1945,6

20 – Jeanne Grégoire sur Aquarelle.com, n°139 – 16°17.95′ N, 25°20.88′ W – 1945,8

21 – Paul Peggs sur Blue One, n°241 – 16°21.96′ N, 25°18.93′ W – 1950,2

22 – Jean Riondel sur Toulon Var Provence, n°238 – 16°42.63′ N, 25°19.03′ W – 1969,4

23 – André Jantet sur Ela, n°265 – 16°53.18′ N, 24°59.55′ W – 1986,1

24 – Ian Munslow sur Ishtar, n°326 – 16°55.37′ N, 25°07.23′ W – 1998,4

25 – Antonio Pedro Da Cruz sur Jazz Magaline, n°90 – 17°02.98′ N, 24°53.25′ W – 1998,8

26 – Sander Bakker sur Man of all seasons, n°194 – 17°14.08′ N, 24°46.03′ W – 2011,5

27 – Mickaël Inglis sur Atomic, n°56 – 17°39.90′ N, 24°23.90′ W – 2044,8

28 – Christian Saury sur Intentia, n°337 – 17°48.25′ N, 24°27.16′ W – 2049,7

29 – Gale Browning sur hartoft marine survey LDT, n°252 – 17°54.41′ N, 24°3