Lighter conditions aid Jourdain in Vendée

Lighter conditions have come at the right time for second-placed Roland Jourdain as he makes repairs to his Open 60 Véolia after hitting a large sea mammal in the Vendée Globe solo round the world race.

He has dropped to nearly 200 miles behind the leader, Michel Desjoyeaux, in Foncia, as the pair parallel the Argentian coast, 5,500 miles from the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne on the west coast of France.

With the retirement of Vincent Riou, claiming redress after being dismasted following his rescue of Jean le Cam, Britain's Samantha Davies is fourth overall in Roxy and the second woman in the race, Dee Caffari in Aviva, is seventh after retaking Arnaud Boissiéres.

Brian Thompson is one place ahead of Cafarri in Bahrain Team Pindar, Steve White two places behind in Toe in the Water (Spirit of Weymouth).

A second and a first in the pair of inshore races for the Volvo round the world race in Singapore kept the overall leader, the Swedish entry Ericsson 4, safely at the top of the leader board.

In light and puffy conditions, skipper Torben Grael demonstrated continuing control, but he was beaten by the American Kenny Read at the helm of Puma in the first race and pushed hard by both the Spanish Telefonica boats in the second.

The Irish entry, Green Dragon, skippered by double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker and with Ian Budgen joining the crew as navigator Ian Moore made his return, scored a fourth and a sixth. The fourth offshore leg to Qingdao, Chine, starts next Saturday.