Overnight, the bulk of the fleet has passed the scoring waypoint and collected the valuable points on offer there.
Yesterday afternoon, Ericsson 4 led Telefonica Blue through the gate as the top two teams on the points leaderboard consolidated their position further. But behind, several battles were shaping up.
In the event, the fight for third between Ericsson 3 and PUMA was the closest battle on the water, and Anders Lewander's team just managed to fight off Kenny Read's il mostro to collect third place.
"The last hour before we crossed the gate was nail biting," wrote Gustav Morin from Ericsson 3. "We sailed close to land and made a lot of tacks while Puma stayed a bit further out, sailing more in a straight line. Everything was going well for us and the game seemed to be over. But then we had a bad tack and lost some distance. The game was on again. All men were on deck, everyone was excited, and the adrenalin was pumping."
Ericsson 3 was able to hold off PUMA at the scoring gate by just 20 minutes, but subsequently, Read and co. have made the pass and currently hold third place on the leaderboard.
A close tussle was brewing for fifth place as well with Green Dragon making a late charge to overtake Telefonica Black. But in the end, Telefonica Black was able to hold on, pushing the Irish-Chinese entry down to sixth place.
"We are all exhausted;" wrote Telefonica Black skipper Fernando Echavarri early this morning. "We have recovered 10 miles to Green Dragon, to be able to overtake them for the gate...We are pretty sure the fleet will get compressed again, and another race is going to start from that point, as the winds are getting lighter. We don't have any doubts that this time we can find room on the podium at the finish line; it would be great at Christmas present!!"
Behind, Team Russia didn't benefit as much as they hoped from their northern routing. They too had to tack for the gate, although for much less time than the others, but the net result is no real gain on the leaders. Kosatka crossed the gate at 00:40 GMT this morning, in seventh place, to collect one point.
The forecast for the Strait is for lighter, shiftier conditions and the proximity to land is expected to have a large influence over the local conditions for the rest of the leg. Many of the teams are expecting a compression of the fleet before the finish, giving more opportunities to the backmarkers ahead of the finish. For more on this, be sure to read Mark Chisnell's TEN ZULU Report for his analysis of the final days to the finish.