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With just five miles separating the top three boats, there's not time to let your guard down at the front of the fleet. Ericsson 4 remains on top of the table at 16:00 GMT this afternoon, but Torben Grael and his men are just hanging on.
PUMA is just one mile back, while Telefonica Blue is hanging tough as well, five miles behind Ericsson 4. All three of the leading boats have tacked over the past three hours as the wind veers slightly to the right. It's a move that's been anticipated by Team Russia navigator Wouter Verbraak.
Further to our earlier report, the administrators of the VOR game have issued the following statement:
Due to conflicting information in our Leg 3 briefing we currently face a situation where a number of boats have taken the northern route over Sri Lanka instead of the southern route. In our explanation of the race rules, we did not prohibit this course and it is our error, for which we sincerely apologise.
After careful consideration and discussions with our player community, game officials and Volvo Ocean Race officials we have decided to restart the third leg of the Virtual Ocean Race Game.
Vendée Globe leader Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) reported early this afternoon that he had suffered a high speed collision with a floating object and badly damaged the mechanism at the head of his rudder.
The Nicois skipper has been forced to slow, deep reefing his mainsail to keep Paprec-Virbac flatter to maintain steerage with his port rudder as he climbs to pass the West Australian ice-security gate.
He insisted this evening’s during a live radio broadcast that he will fight on and try to affect a repair which he said will not be at easy.
The Volvo Ocean Race game, an online virtual race which follows the same route and rules as the actual race, has sparked an uproar from its 100,000 users by removing a course buoy from the route after Leg 3 had commenced.
With a Volvo car being offered as a prize and with users paying to 'upgrade' their boats, this move is proving somewhat unpopular, with many racers threatening to pull out of the virtual race altogether and demand a refund.
One of the UK's leading distributors of marine electronics for leisure and commercial users, C A Clase, has received a prestigious award from KVH for selling the most TracPhone V7 systems in Europe.
"We are delighted to have out sold all other KVH distributors to win the award for the highest sales in Europe," comments Andrew Bush, Managing Director, C A Clase (UK) Ltd. "The V7 is a compact mini V-SAT satellite communication system which is significantly lighter and smaller than standard antennas.
The impact of the collision caused the starboard rudder to kick up. As he tried to get it back in place Dick realised that the connecting arm which joins the two rudders is broken and that the rudder stock is also damaged.
Bernard Stamm has managed to get Cheminées Poujoulat on to a temporary mooring off the Porte aux Francais but not before the hull of Cheminées Poujoulat was damaged when the Open 60 was driven ashore in strong winds last night.
Frederic Martineau from TAAF – the Territorre Austral et Antartartic Francais – the organization based on the Kerguelen Islands – explained to this morning’s radio vacations what happened last night as Stamm tried to bring his Open 60 on to the temporary mooring in 45 knots of wind.
Cheminées Poujoulat entered Morbihan Bay in 40-45 knot winds on Sunday evening. In spite of the help that was given to him, Bernard Stamm was unable to moor up where a buoy had been set up for him while using his engine, the assistance of a RIB and the help of Dominique Wavre on board.
Very quickly a series of events led to the 60-foot Imoca boat being driven ashore. The skipper was taken off safe and sound.
Telefonica Blue, revelling in the contest, still lead on leg three but Ericsson 4, having leapfrogged Green Dragon, are in stalking mood.
By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, Bouwe Bekking’s men held a one mile edge over Torben Grael’s pursuers on E4.
Behind, the battle for third place between Green Dragon, PUMA (both +4 Distance To Leader) and Telefonica Black (+8 DTL) is intense.
A solid lead for Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac) looks to be established as the fleet leaders prepare for a bigger storm which should challenge them with winds in excess of 40 knots.
While he doubled his overnight lead last night – despite having to back up several times to clear week off his rudder and keel – Dick’s gain on Golding is of the order of 10 miles today.