Vendee Globe 2012-13: Dicing with ice as fleet heads into desolate Southern Ocean We have the maps with dots on now and you just can't ignore that but I don't imagine it is much worse than before. After 4,000 nms of racing, less than 40 miles separate the top three boats with the lead swapping hands with almost every position update in what is proving to be one of the closest races in years. Le Cleach, Jean Pierre Dick and Francois Gabart have been pretty much neck and neck over the past 24 hours with Dick setting a new 24 hour record bursting through the solo 500 mile barrier for the first time with 502.53 with an average speed of 20.9 knots. Britain's Alex Thomson had fallen away from the leading pack. Lying in fifth place he was 180 miles behind but was hopeful of making up time before they hit a high pressure system later this week which will force them south. "At the moment, the rich are getting richer, "he reported from his IMOCA Open 60 Hugo Boss. The guys ahead are extending as I am from the guys behind. Once we all get into the same weather we will go the same speed until the 7th when the leaders and I will run into a high pressure, slow up and the fleet will compress again. It is like we are attached by a piece of bungy!