Light and variable winds throughout the course of Monday night meant the lead boat of the 15 competing in the Charleston to Bermuda Race was only due in late last night, according to race officials.

At press time, Hugh Piggin and crew aboard Open 50 Gryphon Solo were still in the lead, approximately 50 miles ahead of Bill Hanckel’s J/120 EmOcean and Buddy Darby’s Sweden 70 Luna Danns.

By yesterday lunchtime the boats had made such slow progress that they were not expected to reach the finish off St. David’s until way after midnight.

But with the winds increasing and working in their favour, the leaders were reportedly moving toward the Island at a rate of 10-11 knots by yesterday evening, with the expected arrival time brought forward slightly.

If there was any great concern about their rivals among the crew on board Gryphon Solo, it certainly wasn’t evident in an e-mail sent to race organisers by crew member Susan Ford at 5 p.m..

In fact Ford, whose daughter Anna is racing on EmOcean, said she was thrilled at how well the team on board the J/120 had been performing.

A three-time Charleston to Bermuda Race veteran, Ford wrote that the seas at the time were very calm — no more than a foot high — which was making it easy for the 50-footer to take advantage of its Code 0 headsail and ratchet up the speed gauge.

Less than 30 miles astern Luna Danns and EmOcean, a trio of entries continued to wage a close battle for second place honours among the boats in Class B.