Ericsson 3 (pictured) lead the race south towards Cape Horn this morning (16 March), clocking 500-plus mile days as Magnus Olsson and his young Nordic crew chased the tail of a low pressure and squeezed the last drop of advantage out of it. This low has pulled them back out in front.

At 10:00 GMT this morning, the rankings revealed that E3 had increased its advantage over itss chasing sistership – the lead was back up to over 50 miles. It’s a small consolation compared to the 300 miles that they had a few days ago, but it’s still a decent distance and it will take more than one bad sail change by the Nordics for Ericsson 4 to close the gap.

Both boats were pushing each other hard towards the scoring gate at Cape Horn, just over 400 miles away. They were sailing in a 20-25 knot north-westerly, with PUMA and Green Dragon chasing. All four were losing touch with the weather system that controlled the weekend’s sailing, and were setting up for the next, incoming low pressure.

Volvo Ocean Postions, 16 March 10:00 GMT:

1. Ericsson 3 / DTF 2676 miles
2. Ericsson 4 / plus 54 miles
3. Puma / plus 173 miles
4. Green Dragon / plus 269 miles
5. Telefonica Blue / plus 792 miles