As the Volvo Ocean Race heads south, and the lead is extended by ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson), with the second Dutch boat, ABN AMRO TWO following, the main action in the fleet is between Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard).

It is hard not to race against another boat when you can see it and Ericsson Racing Team and Pirates of the Caribbean have been in sight of each other and locking horns for the past 24 hours.

“We have had a great battle with them [Pirates],” said Steve Hayles, the British navigator onboard Ericsson Racing Team. “We’ve swapped sides a couple of times and we’ve been going better than them for a good section of it, and then they made a little gain. It’s all down to exactly what sails you’ve got and what the wind is up to. As you make sail changes you loose a little bit, but then hopefully you get it back. It’s been a very interesting battle, we’re very, very similar boats, we’re the same design boat and it’s fairly even.

Paul Cayard and his Pirates are sailing with a man down as Craig Satterthwaite is still sick in his bunk with tonsillitis, which isn’t helping the situation with Ericsson Racing Team. “We’re having a mini battle with them. In fact we’re having a mini battle with everyone out here,” said Paul Cayard. We could actually see them [Ericsson Racing Team] a lot of the time. We were see-sawing back and forth. By and large, they have sailed a little bit faster than us in the last 24 hours. “

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) reports that that his crew has packed food for 23 days for this leg. “Very conservative, but we don’t want to run out,” says Bouwe Bekking, explaining, “that would be a disaster for our bodies not to forget our minds.” “Food is good for moral and the moral of our troops is good, and we’re ready to take the battle on,” threatens Bekking.

Onboard Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), the crew has had the sewing machine out, repairing a sail they damaged on the start line. Although they are 68 miles from the leading boat, they have gained nine miles in the last six hour period.

At the head of the fleet, onboard ABN AMRO TWO it is approaching crunch time. “Before long we will have to commit to which side of the ex-tropical storm we will go,” explains navigator Simon Fisher. “It is either a long trip up and over the top or a rather nasty upwind beat around the bottom of the system. Until now we have been biding our time and going east as fast we can, while our decision has been unclear, but the sand in the hour glass is running low and will have to hedge our bets and see if the others follow..”

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