By Suzanne McFadden
Solo round-the-world sailor Giovanni Soldini sends his apologies - he will be a little late for tonight's New Year's Eve celebrations in Auckland.
But the Around Alone sailor was last night on course to lead the cork-popping ceremonies in the America's Cup village on New Year's Day.
Soldini - the
first Italian to sail around the world solo - was slowly pulling away from his closest rivals yesterday and had around 400 miles to go to the second leg finish.
He had an advantage of more than 200 miles over first leg winner, Englishman Mike Golding.
Golding, a former firefighter, was struggling in lighter airs - sailing at four knots to Soldini's eight. But the big mover in the pack of 14 yesterday was the sole woman in the fleet, Isabelle Autissier.
Autissier's chances could have been written off when she was unable to raise or lower her mainsail for almost a week and had to divert to Tasmania for repairs.
But yesterday she was just 17 miles behind fellow French sailor Marc Thiercelin and likely to overtake him for third place overnight.
If she can finish third or better, Autissier will hold on to second place overall behind Golding, despite all her woes on the water.
In the battle of the smaller boats, French businessman JP Mouligne was stretching ahead of former British Special Forces officer Mike Garside.
The end was far from in sight for the tailender, Robin Davie, who still had over 5000 miles to go to Auckland.
Davie, who started two weeks after the rest of the fleet, found a leak in his diesel tank yesterday and became ill from the fumes.
