After some extremely tight racing in the Solo Concarneau overnight, Hugh Brayshaw remains in touch with the front pack of the fleet.

From the race start at 15:22hrs local time yesterday afternoon, the fleet picked their way along the Brittany coast with the majority of the fleet opting for the inshore route, some had other plans and decided to take the more offshore route which didn't appear to pay off. Finally, under darkness, the fleet converged at the headland of Quiberon before lining up for the 15nm 'soldiers leg' to the island of Belle Ile

At 02:00hrs the fleet were rounding Belle Ile with Charlie Dalin, skipper Macif 2015 leading the charge. once round Belle Ile the most south and eastern part of the course the fleet had 10hrs of downwind conditions with the next turning mark being Chaussee De Sein which the fleet will approach in the coming hours.

Hugh is holding onto the front pack and will be hoping for an opportunity to make further gains. With the breeze forecast to drop over the coming 10 hours the fleet will have to battle the strong tidal streams of the Chaussee De Sein to reach the most northerly turning mark just south of Ile d'Oussant before heading south through the formidable Pointe du Raz where the Solo Concarneau Race Officials have set the opportunity to shorten the race should the breeze totally shut down. Hugh will be hoping this change can provide some opportunities to make more gains.

Just in front of Hugh, fellow Brit and Academy alumni sailor Alan Roberts has also had a strong start, currently lying in 10th position and also within striking distance of the leading pack.

Unfortunately for Nick Cherry a medical issue forced him to retire from the race just minutes after the start.  Suffering from minor back pains going into this event Nick had hoped to compete and set out from Concarneau yesterday.

Unfortunately, with the physical nature of the boat along with the building weather conditions and Nick's back not improving, he was forced to make the difficult decision to retire and return to Concarneau.Nick is now back alongside safely, and will work on being fully recovered in the shortest possible time.

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