As the breeze builds to 18 knots from behind, it is the Aussie battlers onboard ING Real Estate (Grant Wharington) who are closing on the fleet with the new pressure this morning. ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) has managed to hold off Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), but the second Dutch boat, ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) is closing on Pirates of the Caribbean who are now just three miles ahead. Movistar is still sailing significantly slower than the other boats, while ING Real Estate Brunel is managing to average 22.3 knots and a 24 hour speed average over two knots faster than the rest of the fleet.

Chatting from the second-placed Pirates of the Caribbean this morning Paul Cayard said: “We have spent the past 24 hours in an ABN sandwich. We have ABN 1 to leeward and ahead and ABN 2 to windward and behind. Judging how these two did on leg one this is probably not a bad place to be. We are reaching with about 90 degree true wind angle and the beam of the two ABN boats is doing them good here. ABN 1 has made steady gains on us over the past 24 hours while we are just holding off ABN2. Movistar has made some gains hopeful from the fact that they are behind us and the front and stronger winds are hitting them first.”