ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) extended their overall lead this morning when, at 0407 local time, 0808 GMT, the Dutch team arrived in the ‘Big Apple’ to post another win, this time the shortest leg of the course, leg six from Baltimore/Annapolis.

“It feels lovely to be here in first place after the week we’ve had and especially after the result we had in the Baltimore in-port race,” commented an exhausted Sanderson (NZL). “We have had a pretty bumpy ride and it has been pretty tense for us. It feels good to be here with the boat in one piece. We haven’t slept at all. Navigator Stan Honey (USA) and I have had a really tough time. The skipper doesn’t sleep enough, and now I shall do lots of sleeping in the city that never sleeps,” he added.

This has been one of the toughest legs for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in terms of lack sleep, with the boats having to tack every hour or so, as they thrashed up wind after suffering light air on the way down the Chesapeake Bay. There is very little time to recover on this short pit stop in New York, as the start of leg seven, the trans-Atlantic leg of the course to Portsmouth, UK, starts on Thursday this week.

The next four boats are all within two miles of each other, fighting for podium positions and are estimated to cross the line later this morning.

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