At 0915hrs this morning, race leader Ichi Ban , skippered by CYCA Commodore Matt Allen, reported that Wild Oats X , skippered by Mark Richards, had closed a narrow gap and the two were neck and neck 55 nautical miles south of Cape Byron .

Such is the nature of yacht racing that just half an hour later, Wild Oat's X had taken the race lead - and they are not Allen's only concern. He believes Steven David's Reichel/Pugh 60 Wild Joe, the furthest out to sea of the three, is sailing a better angle and could be a real threat.

After hitting boat speeds of 30 knots overnight, Allen reported conditions had eased this morning to 13-14 knots from the west sou'west, a wind range ideal for Bob Oatley's 66 footer Wild Oats X .

“Wild Oats has a narrower beam and less drag but if it goes any lighter, Wild Joe could take it out of both of us,” admitted Allen.

Allen doesn't believe the race record of 27 hours 35 minutes is within reach; however Wild Oats X, Ichi Ban and Wild Joe are still all due in by 4.15pm based on their current speed. The cut off for the record is 4.35pm this afternoon.

Should Ichi Ban take line honours this afternoon it will be the second such result this year on this course for the Jones 70, having beaten the fleet to the finish in the Audi Sydney Southport back in March. If Wild Oats X beats the fleet over the line it will be their second win in this race.

Provisional handicap results at 1015hrs today put Stephen Ellis's modified Farr 40 Splash Gordon out in front in the IRC standings ahead of Graeme Wood's TP52 Wot Yot and Wild Joe .

In the PHS results, immediate past CYCA Commodore Geoff Lavis's UBS Wild Thing is leading from Corinne Feldmann's Stampede and another former CYCA Commodore, Martin James with Infinity III .

The original fleet of 72 is now down to 68 following the retirement of three more boats overnight and this morning, two of them Queensland entries.

At 10.30pm last night Ken Down, owner/skipper of the Sayer 12 Wasabi from Mooloolaba, advised they had steering gear failure and were taking water. They notified the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol at Port Stephens but managed to motor under their own steam to Port Stephens, arriving safely at 3am this morning.

A second Queensland boat and the only Gold Coast entry, Matthew Percy's Alacrity , has also retired from racing with steering gear failure and has motored to Port Stephens.

Ross McDonald's Pelagic Magic this morning advised the radio relay vessel they were retiring after a bad spinnaker wrap caused damage to some deck fittings. They are safely berthed at Port Stephens.

Navigator aboard Rob Reynold's Pla Loma , Julie Hodder, reported this morning on the night's events, including being hit by a gust of 37 knots. “That wasn't in the brochure,” she laughed. “We had 30 knots for around 6 hours and it was icy cold with plenty of water over the deck. Each time we surfed down a wave the helmsman copped the brunt of it. The crew were in full wet weather gear including thermals and beanies.”

This morning the wind has eased back to 21 knots reported Hodder, who has raced up this stretch of the coast at least 16 times before, and the crew was trying to thaw out with hot soup and coffee.

On board Rod Skellet's Pogo 40 Krakatoa II, in its debut ocean race, it was also an eventful night with a 38 knot gust blowing out a spinnaker, while on John Griffin's Oceanis 50 Apres Vous , the crew is currently trying to repair a spinnaker pole fitting which blew up last night. The big cruising boat is ghosting along without a spinnaker but crewman David Salter is confident the engineer on board will be able to affect a repair and the boat will have the kite flying again shortly.

Today's forecast for north of Crowdy Head, south of Port Macquarie, is for S/SW winds 8-13 knots inshore and 13-18 knots offshore easing to south west 8-13 knots with local sou'east sea breezes 5-10 knots inshore by mid afternoon.

Each competing yacht has been fitted with a tracking device and can be monitored constantly via Yacht Tracker on the official race web sites http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au and http://mackay.cyca.com.au