After 18 days in close company, racing more than 3,000 nautical miles, six teams crossed the finish line within an hour of each other.

In dream conditions of 18-24 knots, Varuna increased her 24 hour record run to 465 nautical miles.

A decision to remain west in the last 24 hours of the race paid handsomely for Dare To Lead.

Good conditions are forecast for Saturday's Gurney's Resorts In Port Race Newport.

Charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer against Andrew Capes, Stefan Coppers and others were dropped, but disorderly conduct charges were upheld and the sailors were ordered to make a small contribution to a charity.

Despite the leaders grinding to a halt, there has been some relatively rapid progress for the teams who were further back as the wind filled in for them first.

Skipper Norbert Sedlacek will depart on 29th July from Les Sables d’Olonne to circumnavigate single-handed, nonstop and without assistance through all oceans, including the Northwest Passage and the Arctic Ocean.

Qingdao Australian skipper adds up the pressure going into stealth mode.

Quarter of a century between French champagne on the shores of New Cal

The Mexico doldrums have hit and the fleet compresses into a virtual restart race to Panama

Over the coming days, Clipper Race Meteorologist Simon Rowell is expecting the conditions to remain largely the same with light patches, though a reasonable overall flow will help the teams proceed south.

Warrior set a new race record of 2 days, 18 hours 32 minutes and 48 seconds.

What a difference a day makes – from a 200 nautical mile separation to 80 miles, as the full force of the wind hole takes effect.

At 1400 UTC on Friday, Warrior was less than 200 miles from Bermuda, with Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 56, Varuna, giving chase.

According to Clipper Race Meteorologist Simon Rowell, the remaining breeze is forecast to fade over the coming 24 hours.