Sailing: Cayard all adrift as Krantz escapes

The charge to the south by Gunnar Krantz and Swedish Match had delivered a 100-mile lead yesterday on the second leg of the Whitbread Round The World Race from Cape Town to Fremantle.

The fight for second place was led by Paul Cayard in EF Language while Christine Guillou in the all-woman EF Education brought up the rear.

"This is not the way this leg is supposed to be," Cayard said. "We are all drifting around out here without rhyme or reason while Swedish Match sails off. A high pressure has ridged in around the southern tip of Africa and run right over the rest of us. The worrying thing is that it will stay like this for a couple of days."

The bonus for Krantz is that he is between the rest of the fleet and the weather systems coming from the south-west. He should now be able to control the other eight yachts but is still subject both to patches of light airs as he digs into the conveyor belt of westerlies, and the ever-present vulnerability to gear failure.

Once again George Collins' Chessie Racing is showing well - third-placed, with Dee Smith guesting for Jim Allsop for the Southern Ocean leg, and back in head-to-head contention with Lawrie Smith in Silk Cut.

In fifth position is Grant Dalton in Merit Cup. "We are on the comeback trail," he said last night. "We are tracking Silk Cut, can see Chessie Racing and Cayard is within striking distance," he said.

Most surprising has been the performance of Toshiba, Dennis Conner's American entry which is now being skippered by Britain's Paul Standbridge. He is in eighth place out of the nine yachts, and anxious to make up ground.

WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACE (second leg, 4,600 miles, Cape Town to Fremantle): Latest positions: 1 Swedish Match (Swe) G Krantz 4,267 miles to finish; 2 EF Language (Swe) P Cayard 100 miles behind leader; 3 Chessie Racing (US) D Smith 106; 4 Silk Cut (GB) L Smith 113; 5 Merit Cup (Monaco) G Dalton 116; 6 Innovation Kvaerner (Nor) K Frostad 126; 7 Brunel Sunergy (Neth) H Bouscholte 129; 8 Toshiba (US) P Standbridge 133; 9 EF Education (Swe) C Guillou 173.