FOR the leading boats in the Vende Globe 2000, there is no doubt that this race is a planetary regatta with a hellish rhythm of a transatlantic race.

Not a moment to breathe, not a single error allowed without paying dearly for it.

Each day the skippers eagerly await the position reports to know if their strenuous efforts from just the last few hours have paid off, or if the time, in which they have snatched some precious sleep and reduced sail a little, has not lost them too many hard-fought miles.

In the lead still, Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) has worked his way well ahead of the worst effects of a small low pressure bubble, which emerged much to the surprise of his main rival Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere).

In 24 hours, Desjoyeaux has pulled out a 165-mile lead over Jourdain and third-placed Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) is now roughly the same distance behind him.

Behind these three, the gaps are extending progressively, and the top eight boats now count 1000 miles between them.

For the second half of the fleet, the regatta mentality is secondary now to that of survival.

Some skippers have had their race abruptly transformed into an adventure, where this circumnavigation has rudely changed their horizons and forced them to find other motivations than victory.

Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) revealed over the radio chat that he has worked out a plan to get his boat past Cape Horn under a further modified jury rig, in order to face the upwind conditions in the Atlantic.

In around eight days he will stop at Auckland Island, 280 miles south of New Zealand, to get into shelter.

There he wil carry out an operation to join the other end of his mast on top of the current rig and extend it to 18 metres in total.

On Tuesday night, Southampton's Mike Golding (Team Group 4) endured one of the worst storms he had been in.

There was 58 knot winds from the south-west screaming in across the deck, coupled with ugly cross waves rearing up in his path and knocking the boat over on its side several times.

He said: "It was about as out of control as it can get. I had just the storm sail up and on the surf was still hitting 20 knots!

"It must sound stressful but I just stuck the pilot on and went to bed - I even had a good night's sleep!

"All in all I think I've made a net gain after making ground yesterday, and slowing up a little overnight."