Johannesburg - The City of Cape Town still had a stranglehold on the Heineken Cape to Rio yacht race on Tuesday, but several boats drifted in and out of contention in the fight for second and third places.
The most noticeable absentee from the top three was Dale Kushner’s Xtra-Link, which dropped to sixth from second at one stage.
Kushner was forced to do a number of gibes following "severe shifts" in the wind on Monday, but later reported the yacht to be sailing in 14 to 17 knot winds and completing a 24-hour run of 127 nautical miles (nm).
Ciao Bella, skippered by Mike Robinson, was holding on to second place following a daily run of 172nm, ahead of Jon and Andrew Sanders’ Perie Banou II (139nm).
The big move came from the 42ft Izivunguvungu, skippered by Kader Williams and his development crew from the navy base in Simon’s Town.
The boat had a run of 219nm, and moved into fourth place on handicap ahead of Cape Storm, skippered by Sean Cummings.
Despite a couple of blown spinnakers, Prodigy still leads the race for line honours, and had a run of 223nm. It still has 1,200nm to go to Rio.
City of Cape Town, skippered by Gerry Hegie, is 1,302nm from the finish, and Grand Filou II, skippered by Jurgen Eming and Richard Fearon, 1,447nm.