Having found more wind to the west this afternoon, Tyco has pulled away 13 miles from her nearest rival ASSA ABLOY.

Skipper Kevin Shoebridge and navigator Steve Hayles are pleased with their advance. They are constantly sailing 2 knots faster than the opposition. The other boat to make big gains was Grant Dalton’s Amer Sports One, overtaking long time leg leader illbruck. Still, the leading group with ASSA ABLOY, Amer Sports One, Tyco, illbruck and Newscorp is tightly packed and the crews are starting to think about their approach towards the equatorial doldrums.

At 0024 GMT SEB picked up their spare headboard car at Puerto Santo, a tiny island 20 miles to the north-east of Madeira. The other yacht in the race with a headboard car failure, djuice Dragons, is planning to pick up their replacement at Fernando de Noronha, off the Brazilian coast.

The weather maps show stable trade winds south of 30N and the fleet is expected to speed up once they get into this fair weather.

Position Report Day 8 – 0954 GMT

1 TYCO

2 AART

3 AONE

4 ILBK

5 NEWS

6 DJCE

7 ATOO

8 TSEB