At 07:00 GMT yesterday morning, Ericsson 4 had inched to within six miles of the Spanish boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.

The opening salvos in what promises to be a tense battle to the finish were fired yesterday morning in the North Atlantic when Telefonica Blue went into ‘Stealth Play’ at the 07:00 GMT Position Report.

The gap between Telefonica Blue and Ericsson 4 had closed to six miles at the time. Bekking hinted that there would be a flurry of Stealth cards before Boston Harbour came into view, and he was right. Ericsson 4 followed suit at 10:00 GMT.

The tactical conundrum for the fleet was when to gybe to port for the final approach. Since Stealth was a factor, only Ericsson 3, PUMA, Telefonica Black, Delta Lloyd and Green Dragon had revealed they had gybed. The position of the other two remained shrouded in mystery.

However, all mystery vanished late last night, as the two stealth yachts came out of hiding. And once they did, the leader board read very differently – with the Ericsson boats taking first and second postion.

Now attention is turning to ETAs, as Ericsson 4 is almost 500nm from the finish.

Positions – Friday 24 April, 09:00 GMT:

1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 552nm
2. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 34nm
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 54nm
4. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) 74nm
5. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) 130nm
6. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) 139nm
7. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) 143nm
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

To follow the racing, visit www.volvooceanrace.org .