The Matosinhos-Porto Fly By barely lasted long enough for sailors to catch their breath.
Within three hours of docking, the IMOCA fleet was back at sea and hammering south in the kind of conditions every offshore skipper dreams of.
Paprec Arkéa, second into Porto and 42 minutes behind Biotherm at the restart, wasted no time in pressing their advantage. By 11:00 UTC, Paprec Arkéa were nine miles clear, with Biotherm and Holcim-PRB locked together in their wake.
Behind the top three, Team Malizia holds fourth, while Allagrande Mapei Racing and Canada Ocean Racing are pushing hard toward Gibraltar.
At the back of the fleet, Team Amaala continues to fight on despite losing touch in the light conditions on the approach to Porto.
The front runners passed Gibraltar Thursday afternoon, skirting north of the exclusion zone and staying close to the coast to shave miles.
After storming through Gibraltar at 30 knots, Paprec Arkéa this morning were drifting at barely a knot, watching as Biotherm and Holcim-PRB slipped past to the north and the chasing pack pulled closer from behind.
As of midday, Biotherm had stretched an 18-mile lead over Holcim-PRB, with Paprec Arkéa six miles further back and still struggling to escape the offshore hole.
In the fickle conditions, the finish for the leading boat in Cartagena could come any time between 23:00 Friday night and 05:00 on Saturday morning local time. What looked like a straightforward drag race yesterday has turned into a drifting match where every puff of wind counts, and no position is safe.
