Bouwe Bekking’s movistar team have made some good tactical decisions within the last 24 hours and are now leading Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race which started from Rio Janeiro on Sunday.

Yesterday, having decided to take a more southerly route, movistar was at one point 22 miles back from the leader.

Losing out big time, the Spanish team took a decision to follow a westerly track and have picked up a stronger breeze which has propelled them to the front of the fleet. They currently hold a 13-mile lead over ABN AMRO Two and, although the wind has now dropped off, they are still sailing in fractionally more breeze which is giving them the speed edge over the following two boats.

ABN AMRO One is suffering in the light airs and is now down in fourth place, 40 miles behind the leader.

Steve Hayles navigator aboard Ericsson, currently in fifth place, 44 miles behind sailing in just 5kts of breeze, confirmed the unstable conditions commenting: “We have only a thousand miles to go to the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha and the conditions are expected to be anything but simple. A large trough sits between us and the more consistent south-easterly trades and with the fleet this close we will need to be at 100 per cent for every second of every day. It’s very different from the extreme conditions of the Southern Ocean but it’s certainly no less challenging.”

Current positions

1st movistar

2nd ABN AMRO TWO 13 miles from leader

3rd Pirates of the Caribbean 29 miles from leader

4th ABN AMRO ONE 40 miles from leader

5th Ericsson Racing Team 44 miles from leader

6th Brasil 1 46 miles from leader