LEG 2, DAY 8 - The fleet are half-way through the transition zone, into the airlock, and finally in from the cold. The land of milk and honey beckons – the trade winds ...

At 10:00 the fleet were all running downwind in a light to moderate – 10 to 12 knot – southerly True Wind Direction (TWD in the Data Centre), heading north-east on the new starboard gybe, as we’ve been expecting for the past couple of days.

So Team Ericsson dominate the front rank, furthest north, and leading the overnight formation gybing was Torben Grael and Ericsson 4, who rolled over onto starboard at 03:00. Anders Lewander and Ericsson 3 followed at 04:00 – perhaps encouraged by the Position Report and the realization that Grael was headed the other way.

It was Ian Walker and Green Dragon that led the second rank gybe, going at about 03:30. They are lined up with Telefonica Blue and PUMA, who gybed more or less together at about 05:30 ZULU (anticipated by navigator Simon Fisher).