Having passed the first waypoint of Ilha Fernando de Noronha, the five leading yachts in the VOR are on on their way south to Trinidade. Now 130 miles off the coast of Brazil, Illbruck have once again found a little extra boat speed to extend their lead from Assa Abloy.

Team News Corp and Tyco, third and fourth respectively, have also lost miles when they desperately needed to gain to keep in the same weather systems as the leading two. “We hope to get into the same breeze as the boats in front now and work away on their lead so we are in a position to contend across the South Atlantic. This is obviously harder than it sounds as conditions to Trinidade (the next waypoint) seem straight forward and not a lot of passing lanes at the moment. This would be a good time to have a little boat speed edge,” commented Tyco’s Brad Jackson.

As resilient as ever, the three yachts at the back – Team SEB, djuice and Amer Sports Too – continue their private battle for sixth position. “Facts are that we have 289 miles to the next boat (Amer Sports One) and 368 to the leader (Illbruck). Have we given up? No, of course not,” wrote SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz from the yacht this morning.

Position Report, Day 20, 0400hrs GMT

1 ILBK

2 AART

3 NEWS

4 TYCO

5 AONE

6 TSEB

7 DJCE

8 ATOO