Sailing: Golding slips to third as tough night takes its toll

After a tough night, which saw two more retirements, reducing the fleet from seven at the start from Calais on Sunday, to four yesterday afternoon, Mike Golding had slipped to third place on the second day of the 1,850-mile Round Britain Race.

After a tough night, which saw two more retirements, reducing the fleet from seven at the start from Calais on Sunday, to four yesterday afternoon, Mike Golding had slipped to third place on the second day of the 1,850-mile Round Britain Race.

But he and the four crew on his Open 60 Ecover were making fast progress towards the Fastnet Rock on the south-west corner of Ireland before turning up the Atlantic coast towards Scotland.

Roland Jourdain was less than 20 miles ahead in Sill et Veolia, with Jean le Cam's Bonduelle trailing the leader by under 14 miles. Fourth was Jean-Pierre Dick in Virbac-Paprec. Overnight, first Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty had retired hurt in Caen-la-Mer, followed by Bernard Stamm in Cheminées Poujoulat. Emma Richards had peeled off into Portsmouth just 15 hours after the start.

After being hit by 40-knot winds, the forecasts were for easier conditions last night. "It looks like the wind might hold for us to push us right to the Shetlands," said Golding. "We had a bit of speed on last night and we'd like to do a bit more."