Grant Dalton on Amer Sports One has once again managed to widen the gap between himself, Illbruck, News Corp and Tyco. He now leads the VOR by 34 miles and, once in the fresher breeze, is likely to leave the fleet in his wake. However, those behind are going to make life as difficult as possible for Dalton with Assa Abloy – 300 miles to the north – threatening to cut her off. “The high pressure area developing ahead,” said Dalton, “could be an obstacle particularly if we get caught in the ridge. We’re in the lead for now – I wish I knew the rest of the script for the next 2,000 miles!”

Although the trailing three boats that have been stuck in no wind round the island of Trindade are on the move once again, the chances of doing any serious damage to the leaders is looking less and less likely. “We have spent far too long looking at this island.” said Lisa McDonald (skipper Amer Sports Too) “but thankfully we’ve just picked up a 9-knot breeze and we’re moving along quite well now.” Gurra Krantz from SEB is also happy to see the back of the island “We lived next to this island from sunrise to sunset. Thankfully we have picked up a breeze now and continue to race for the remaining three places. Most important of all, we cannot see Trindade anymore!”

Position Report, Day 26, 1000 GMT

1 AONE

2 ILBK

3 NEWS

4 TYCO

5 AART

6 DJCE

7 ATOO

8 TSEB