There have been some drastic deficit cuts on this leg and chief among those wielding the axe are Bouwe Bekking's men on Telefonica Blue.

Granted they have been provided with insurance cover by the Doldrums compression, and there is the small matter of a leverage disadvantage as the fleet approach Fiji, but don’t let the small print get in the way of a stunning comeback – on the leaderboard at least.

The facts are that the Blue boat set off 189 miles after the fleet in Qingdao and had fallen as far adrift as 300 miles to the leaders.

Initially handicapped by a 19-hour delay after a rocky departure on Leg 5, Telefonica Blue has slashed the arrears by 40 miles in the past 24 hours. It is now within 33 miles of Ericsson 4.

What Barack Obama would give for debt shaving like that as he prepares to deliver his first budget today with a pledge to halve a US shortfall of $1 trillion. Well, every bit helps.

A few days ago Bekking wrote about “never giving up” and “fighting for every single metre ... every mile”. He has been true to his every word.

“We feel like the storm chasers on the Discovery Channel, when every black cloud appears, the adrenaline starts rushing, and the tension onboard rises. Luckily we still haven’t found the real twisters,” he said.

"So far we have been doing well, and no hiccup in the calls (sail changes), which is one of the reasons we have done good mileage.”

Bekking says the strategy for the next few days is to employ the trusted maxim of keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer. "We want to stay close to the fleet, keep slowly chipping away, rather than going for the big fish.”

Navigator Tom Addis added: “We’ve had a great run in the last 24 hours through some very unstable weather, and have pulled the front runners back by a massive amount, to the stage of almost being in the same patch of water now.”

By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, the other late comer, Ericsson 3, which gave the fleet a seven-hour head start out of Qingdao, was still locked in fierce combat with PUMA for second place with the cat nabbing a three-mile lead over the Nordics. Green Dragon brought up the tail at a distance of +65 miles.

Trimmer Joca Signorini provided the Position Report for E4. “We saw a good lead evaporate in just a few hours,” he said. “The competition is very close. PUMA and Ericsson 3 are now just 20 miles from us and Telefonica Blue has made some good gains. Green Dragon is also making fast runs more to the east of the fleet. Everything is still open for the first scoring gate at latitude 36 south.”

So, the navigators have finally got their heads out of the clouds as the squall activity has receded in the Doldrums.

PUMA Media Crew Member reported as much today ... “We seem to be out of the squall zone, or the nasty ones at least,” he said.

Deppe went on to supply a snapshot of life on board. The activity above deck is frantic as sail changes come in quick succession. In Deppe’s media world it’s a little more relaxed, which is a source of some frustration.

“So why am I having a tough day? It's probably got something to do with just how hard the guys are working right now. The last thing they want to deal with is me sticking a camera in their faces ... ‘how does it feel to be sailing along on a boat?’ ... ‘how are you handling the trip so far’ and other lame lines of questioning.”

There are more questions for the navigators to wrestle with as Fiji looms large on the radar screens – rain clouds being one, according to Telefonica Blue’s Simon Fisher. “Like the gopher in Caddyshack rain clouds are starting to pop up all over the course threatening to mess up our afternoon.

"And seeing as we cannot get the dynamite out to get rid of them we are just going to have to weave our way round.”

Beyond Fiji, 300 miles to the south-east, there is still about 1,000 miles to the first of the two scoring gates. Fiji is central to the tactics over the next two days as the weather has determined that the optimum routing is east of the south Pacific island group.

That being the case, Telefonica Blue, the western-most boat, is having to sail at the tightest angle and may yet cough up some of those hard yards gained. As Addis says, “we are holding our breath a bit”.