It’s been a difficult few days for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, now in the closing stages of leg four of the race from Wellington to Rio de Janeiro, and it will only get harder, as the approach to Rio is notorious for being difficult.

It’s a game of snakes and ladders according to Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE. Snakes and ladders is a simple game where you work your way towards the finish, taking turns throwing dice. If you land on a ladder and you climb closer to the finish. If you land on a snake, you slide back towards the start. One of the largest scale games of snakes and ladders that can be played is happening out on the race track right now.

“Yesterday,” explains Sanderson, “we slid down a nasty snake and lost 29 miles on the fleet and 39 miles to Brasil1 (Torben Grael). We made our play to the west again that we had tried earlier in the day and had chickened out due there just being no wind, then, over the hours of darkness during last night, we gained back all that we had lost plus some nice interest on a good ladder as we shot out to the biggest lead we have had for the whole leg. No champagne cork popping sounds going through our heads here though, we are about to slide down another nasty ladder as we charge into a light spot and we just know we will lose miles.”

There will continue to be some big gains (ladders) and losses (snakes) in the fleet as all the teams fight to stay in the hunt to win this leg. At this level of professional racing, every boat is sailed extremely well and while tiny little gains can be made by sailing the boat well, the winner will be the team who gets it right with the weather (a ladder) and that is going to take a lot of hard work and a little bit of good luck.

Aside from the frustrations with the weather, Simon Fisher from ABN AMRO TWO says life is good. “It is a far cry from the rigours of the Southern Ocean. We are sailing along in shorts and t-shirts in the sun. The boat is now dry and you sleep well without being tossed around like a pancake in your bunk.”

Pirate Paul and the lost souls onboard The Black Pearl are pragmatic. “If it takes forever to get there, so be it. We just want to win this leg and we are prepared to stay out here for however long it takes to get the job done.”

Tonight’s position report shows gains by most of the chasing pack except Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald), who lost nine miles and movistar (Bouwe Bekking), who is creeping along the coast and sailing the shortest distance possible. The strategy varies across the fleet and currently the east-west positioning of the fleet remains the big tactical question. ABN AMRO ONE is the most westerly boat, while Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) holds onto the east. Ericsson Racing Team has moved to the west and is in the tracks of the Pirates but behind.

Unfortunately, before the fleet makes it to the finish, there is very likely to be more light air as another area of high pressure moves off the coast and towards the fleet. This will even more frustrating and could well be the cause of yet more last minute position changes in the dying moments of the leg before the fleet crosses the finish line.

Movistar (Bouwe Bekking), with her keel fixed firmly in the middle of the boat, is making good progress north. There is no chance of them catching the fleet, particularly as they cannot make use of their canting keel, but they should benefit from favourable conditions which will give them a relatively fast downwind sail towards Rio.

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