Antaeus skippered by Charles St Clair Brown revelling in the fresh 25 knot SE wind.
She has established a significant lead over Greg Elliott's Elliott Marine during the last twelve hours. While the breeze is likely to ease up overnight Antaeus is expected to arrive of Pointe Denouel in Petite Passe, during Thursday afternoon, and take line honours for the first monohull to finish the Auckland to Noumea Yacht Race 2001.
The 17 meter Crowther catamaran, Rogntudjuu with skipper Philippe Coste should cross the finish line in the early hours of Thursday morning having just under 100 miles to run at 17:00 hours today (Wednesday)
Elliott Marine now running 40 miles behind Antaeus has Boyd Smith's Ondime VII a further 20 miles astern. Both are expected to reach Noumea late tomorrow.
Nimble a Lidgard Demon 10 (10 metre) the smallest boat in the fleet, skippered by John Lidgard, is expected to finish on Saturday morning 26 May. Veteran John Lidgard has sailed in eight previous Auckland to Noumea races.
In the middle of the fleet, Anticipation and Cruise Control are separated by only 5 miles, and a few miles behind a similar distance separates Touchdown and E.Z. Street. Cruise Control is running with a damaged boom but still in the race and maintaining excellent boat speed under difficult conditions.