Team SpirIT has made a spirited charge through the middle of the fleet to assume the Distance To Finish (DTF) lead while Compaq has barreled in from the east to take second place. Logica has dropped to third, but with the fleet heading 330° – making very small dents in the DTF – Team Spirit’s lead and Logica’s third place are fairly artificial but it’s very tight with these three and Isle of Man all in contention.

The high pressure to the west and the low pressure to the east are still funneling the northeasterly tradewinds and boosting them to Force 5-6. The fresher winds were in the east yesterday and Compaq made the most of them. She is now almost back in touch with the lead group having recovered neatly from her easterly course, intended to avoid the Canary’s wind shadow and finding other holes instead.

Logica went straight between La Palma and Tenerife and crew Helen Armour explains the frustrations of racing through island chains. “The islands proved an obstacle as the winds were as changeable and as fickle as ever making the going painful and frustrating.

“If I happened to have mentioned how little work we did in the first few weeks well the last few days have made up for it with last night taking the biscuit! We have been changing sails what seems every five minutes and tacking back and forth as the wind changes direction as frequently.”