WITH less than 270 miles to the finish line Phil Sharp is on course for third place in the Mini Transat.

This morning the Jerseyman, aboard his Le Gallais 419 single-handed boat, was still in sixth place in the second leg of the race from Lanzarote to Salvador – after finishing fourth in the first leg from La Rochelle to the Canary Islands.

But the result will be in the balance until the end with the final places decided on the combined time of the two legs and 3,100 miles of ocean racing.

Today Sharp was 23 miles behind Adrien Hardy and still closing the gap.

He already holds a three-hour cushion over Hardy from the first leg.

The emphasis now is on steering the fine line between maximising speed and damage limitation.

The leaders will be all too aware of the fate suffered by the first and second boats in the last Mini Transat, which were both dismasted only 80 miles from the finish line.

And over the past 48 hours, two further boats have had to retire from the race – including podium contender Yves Le Blevec who was dismasted.

The first arrivals in Salvador are expected late tomorrow afternoon BST wth Spaniard Spaniard Alex Pella still leading the leg but only five miles ahead of first leg winner Douguet Corentin.