Leg 3: Abu Dhabi to Sanya (4,670 nautical miles)
Days at sea: 6
Boat speed: 6.4 knots (3 hours average), 5 knots (15 minute average)
Position in fleet: Latest position reports show Dongfeng still holding onto the lead, managing to steal a couple of miles back on Brunel.
Distance to finish: 3, 480 nautical miles although Caudrelier suggests this could be the longest leg in terms of time!

At 0940 GMT Dongfeng had managed to steal a couple of miles back on Brunel. Tense onboard with winds very very light, just 3 knots at time of poll – and Brunel sailing now in better wind and on a higher angle.

Well it was easy to think that once the big gybe decision was made the other day it would be ‘plain sailing’ down a straight line in northerly winds to the Sri Lanka turning point on the course. Whilst the fleet has generally maintained the same direction, the local effects have been very significant with the distances between the boats yo-yoing back and forth since yesterday. And right now, in what looks like a tactical move, Brunel have decided to sail higher than the rest of the fleet through this light airs zone, on a more direct route to the waypoint – and in doing so have closed to just 2 miles behind Dongfeng, albeit separated by nearly 20 miles on the water now. Local effects or a clear tactical move to get closer to the coast of India, time will tell.

A Fastnet Race in distance to the southern point of India (650 miles) and a further 200 to Sri Lanka’s southern tip and the transition in to the Bay of Bengal. As Ian Walker on Azzam commented yesterday, the first boat there could get a big advantage. For now its anyone’s guess who will be there first, with the distances shrinking and stretching up to 15 miles every couple of watches. The light airs and attention it requires in terms of keeping the boats going at 100%, and the prospect of a very long leg, are started to tire the sailors – the first team to blink will be ejected out the back of the peloton. The separation with Brunel, whether accidental or a Dutch master plan, finally means we could see a split in the leading trio, with Abu Dhabi for now taking a similar course to the determined men of Dongfeng.

“The first part of the leg was clear – but now its getting complicated” commented skipper Caudrelier. Kit confirmed on a video call earlier that ‘the wind is not at all what is forecast, we’re sailing dead downwind when we should be reaching”. Caudrelier confirms “It might just come down to who is lucky on this leg”. It could come down to a roll of the weather and cloud dice this next 600 miles to the corner.

Its going to be a tense couple of days.

Thousands of miles away from home, Charles Caudrelier, writes a few words to reflect on the Charlie Hebdo atrocity which has shocked the world:

My name is Charles, sometimes I’m called Charlot but today I am Charlie.

It is the second time I’ve been at sea during a major terrorist attack.

The first time it was 11 September 2001.

At sea we are cut of off from the world without internet access, TV or radio and we are living a long way from these dramas.

Since yesterday I really don’t know what to think about these insane actions. Since the beginning of time we’ve been killing in the name of God, or Gods.

I’m not going to write a long essay on this, writing is not my thing, and certainly I don’t feel qualified on this subject.

But we are doing the Volvo Ocean Race, a race around the planet, crossing all the oceans and continents during 9 months.

If God exists, then he will have created our planet and he can be proud of his work, because its amazing, but he must also be embarrassed about us humans, incapable of living together on it.

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