Brasil 1 (Torben Grael), the very first entry from Brazil in the Volvo Ocean Race, has moved into the lead overnight. At 0400GMT this morning she was just one mile ahead of ABN AMRO TWO, a lead she held onto but has not been able to extend. She is currently 492 nautical miles offshore, 142 miles west of Tenerife. Mike Sanderson (ABN AMRO ONE) and Sebastien Josse (ABN AMRO TWO) have swapped places and ABN AMRO One is now in second place, one mile behind the Brazilian boat while Josse, now in third place, has selected the most westerly course, a further 56 nm to the west of the fleet. Ericsson maintains her fourth position, but has slipped a further miles behind.

movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has 28nm to sail before reaching Porti Mao in Portugal, where the shore team will meet the boat to assess the damage to the bulkhead. “We are nearing the south Portuguese coast, and it looks like we have at least saved the boat, as the wind has dropped to an acceptable 15 knots. All yesterday we had sustained winds between 30 – 50 knots, with massive waves which were pounding us side on,” wrote Bekking earlier this morning.

Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), has arrived in Cascais, while Sunergy and Friends (Grant Wharington) are making slow progress towards Madeira. The strongest winds now are north of Madeira, so as the leading pack of four boats has moved southwest of Madeira, they have seen their winds drop significantly over the last few hours. The leading pack is just beginning feel the benefit of the north-easterly trade winds while Synergy and Friends will still have strong winds for another 12-24 hours, but this should ease later today and tomorrow.