Little over 36 hours have passed since the yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet crossed the start line in the Chesapeake and began their route up the east coast of the USA to New York and yet they are already nearing the finish of leg six.

ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) have increased their lead over the chasing boats and are now just 14 miles from the Ambrose Light and the final stretch past Long Island and the finish line just off North Cove Yacht Harbour.

Another difficult 6 hours in gruelling upwind conditions have seen the battle continue between Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and movistar (Bouwe Bekking) for second place and behind them Neal McDonald and his crew on Ericsson have been toughing it out alongside Brasil 1 (Torben Grael)

At the latest position report Pirates of the Caribbean had held on to second and just 1 mile behind them Brasil1 had made gains on movistar and were neck and neck 18 miles behind the leader.

Brunel (Grant Wharington) are a further 17 miles back with ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) bringing up the rear.

The forecast is for lighter winds as the boats approach New York which could be a worry for Mike Sanderson with the chasing pack so close behind. His boat suffered in the light breeze during the in port race in Baltimore and similar conditions could allow the fleet to concertina again just miles from the finish line.

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