#VOR - With fewer than 1,000 miles and some three days of sailing to the Leg 6 finish line in Newport, the Volvo Ocean Race is truly on.

Current leaders Dongfeng Race Team face a strong challenge from Abu Dahbi Ocean Racing and third place Team Brunel as they put their chips down on the winning route through the Bermuda Triangle.

Not far behind are MAPFRE and Team Alvimedica, separated by fewer than two nautical miles and picking up a knot of speed over the podium placers – which could accumulate into a threat for the leaders.

Trailing at the back in sixth place are Team SCA, who were the last to gybe northwest on Saturday afternoon (2 May) and haven't been able to make up their lost ground in wind speeds three to four knots off those available to the frontrunners.

Nevertheless, the SCA women will be pushing as hard if not harder than the rest of the fleet as they bear down on Rhode Island – and with little time for the myths that surround the mysterious Bermuda Triangle.

The VOR website debunks the region's Fortean reputation that's long been the stuff of science fiction, boiling it down to the simple fact that as one of the most highly trafficked areas for amateur sailors and pilots, not to mention commercial shipping, it's bound to have more accidents.

Indeed, the bigger risk for the VOR fleet – aside from tiredness and jadedness as the months of offshore racing take their toll – is whether some hapless amateur skipper or pilot might cross their path and scupper their chances in the race standings!

#VOR - What a difference a few days make! After back-marking the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out of Itajaí for the first week of Leg 6, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have raced into pole position.

As recently at this past weekend, the crew of Azzam - including Ireland's own Justin Slattery – were still holding up the rear before the big push north that saw Dongfeng Race Team claim the lead.

The Chinese boat, which had Kerry sailor Damian Foxall on deck for the previous leg, held the advantage as the closely packed fleet rounded the north-eastern corner of the South American continent.

But after crossing the Equator for the final time this race, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing made their move over the course of "a mad few hours" – as skipper Ian Walker put it – sailing along the edge of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.

The ITCZ is a belt of low pressure that circles the earth where the trade winds on both sides of the Equator meet.

And it was marked out for the fleet by a massive 50-mile-long cloud with more than 30 knots of wind below it.

"As soon as we got hooked into we were off in a cloud of spray, doing over 25 knots for about two hours. It was incredible!" said Walker. "We sailed right up to Brunel and over the guys to leeward closer to land.

“It came on so quickly that hardly anyone on deck was dressed for the strong wind so we all got totally soaked. We couldn’t even dive below for our wet weather gear, as it needed all of us to keep control.

"So, there we were, ripping along on the very edge of control with water everywhere and just dressed in shorts and t-shirts. We all ended up just laughing at how ridiculous we all must have looked.”

The huge speed boost catapulted Azzam to the front of the pack, which as of lunchtime today (Thursday 30 April) was spread out by some 47 nautical miles between the lead boat and current last-placed Team SCA, and about half that between Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and fifth-place Team Alvimedica on either side of the fleet.

While the race dashboard shows a tightly knit group of yachts from overhead, the standings show a race of three distinct duels for position.

Ineed, Azzam's lead is a narrow one, as Dongfeng Race Team – out of sight to their port side but not out of mind – are within two nautical miles according to the most recent race tracker update.

At the back, the women of Team SCA and the American-Turkish boat Team Alvimedica are just 5nm apart, while the other battle is for third place as Team Brunel and MAPFRE duel around 16nm from the leaders.

#VOR - It's all change in the Volvo Ocean Race this morning (Sunday 26 April) as the pack converges for the buzz past Recife.

The latest watch log from Volvo Ocean Race control put Team Alvimedica still in the lead – but only just.

And as this morning's tracker shows, their gamble to break ahead has not paid off, as they trail behind the bulk of the fleet in fifth position.

Skipper Charlie Enright and his crew were the first to take a chance on Friday (24 April) when they split some 50 nautical miles west of the rest of the fleet.

What's more, the middle-of-the-pack battle between Team Brunel, Team SCA and MAPFRE got even hotter, with less than a third of a nautical mile between their boats.

That excitement calmed down somewhat yesterday (Saturday 26 April) as the yachts locked into their big push north.

With conditions stabilised, and winds averaging 11 knots meaning passing opportunities were minimal for the pack, sailing was expected to be plain till this morning – when the wind was predicted to lift the fleet around Recife.

Alvimedica were drawn back towards the pack, too, and with their lead down to just 2.5 nautical miles as of yesterday evening, today's racing was set to be very interesting.

The current standings prove that: Dongfeng Race Team have claimed the lead some 5.7 nautical miles clear of Team Brunel, who themselves have broken away from their skirmish with MAPFRE and Team SCA, as an average of 2 nautical miles separates their boats.

Alvimedica will be left ruing Friday's decision as they lie some six nautical miles behind the all-women boat, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing remain in last place.

But fewer than 20 nautical miles separate their back-marking boat from the leader, so more change is almost certainly in the offing.

#VOR - High pressure, and the attendant lack of wind, is the challenge faced by the navigators with the Volvo Ocean Race fleet now five days into the sixth leg from Itajaí to Newport.

Yesterday (23 April) saw the first split in the pack that was more-or-less tightly knit for the first few days east from their Brazilian stopover, as the crews began picking their spots to tack north.

But there's a fair amount of Brazilian coastline yet to pass – the fleet is still a ways off from Ponta de Olinda – and current lead boat Team Alvimedica is only 17.2 nautical miles clear of previous leg winners Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing bringing up the rear.

Between them there's another close jostle for position between Dongfeg Race Team, Team Brunel, Team SCA and Mapfre, all within just over a nautical mile as the average speed across the fleet drops below six knots.

In the meantime, the teams continue to share their thoughts with the official VOR website in between the relentless tacks that have put any hopes of sleep on the back-burner for now.

Indeed, the sleep deprivation might be affecting the crew of Team Brunel more than others, as skipper Bouwe Bekking took to ribbing their on-board reporter Stefan Coppers.

When he's not keeping the rest of the boat awake with his permanently-on head torch ("He is a like little kid who has a little nightlight right next to him") the Dutch journo's known to strut the deck in his tight boxers.

"he doesn't realise how silly he is looking," says Bekking. "But we gave up a long time ago, it seems to be his 'dresscode'."

It would be enough to distract any sailor, though these hardy souls are keeping their focus as the waiting (and tacking) game continues.

#VOR - More than 36 hours into Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 and the fleet is making slow but steady progress east from Itajaí in Brazil.

Indeed, as of 7.40am this morning (Tuesday 21 April) only a little over three nautical miles separated the first-place Team Alvimedica from the back-marking Team Brunel, winners of Sunday's in-port race.

At present the six racing boats are almost due south of Cabo Frio, near Rio de Janeiro.

And the fleet will continue sailing east into the Atlantic for some time till they can catch the right winds for the swing northwards then northwest towards the Caribbean.

According to race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante, there are good offshore options for the teams to consider on this 5,000-nautical-mile coastal leg towards Newport in Rhode Island, but a number of obstacles, such as a return to the Doldrums. lie in wait.

In the meantime – as the boats eek out as much power from their sails as they can, finally reaching a steady 10 knots over the first night and currently averaging 12 knots across the fleet – those challenges will feel like a long way off yet.

#vor – Volvo Ocean Race's six-strong fleet finally headed out of Auckland this morning after the Leg 5 departure was delayed 67 hours to avoid the worst of Cyclone Pam.

However, the crews, led out of the 'City of Sails' by Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), knew they may have avoided the deadly weather system, but still face the toughest of all nine legs as they race through the notorious Southern Ocean.

"The conditions will be light early on, with coastal sailing up to East Cape (the tip of New Zealand), but after a few days it will be the full-on Southern Ocean regime," said the race's official meteorologist, Gonzalo Infante, shortly before departure at 0900 NZ time (2100 Tuesday CET).

"From then, the boats will be facing 25-35 knots of wind (46-65 kilometres per hour) for much of the time until they round Cape Horn."

Cyclone Pam, which forced the postponement from Sunday until Wednesday having wrought havoc in the South Pacific and causing at least 11 deaths on Vanuatu, will no longer be a major factor for the fleet, added Infante.

Leg 5, the Southern Ocean leg, from Auckland to Itajaí in south eastern Brazil, is 6,776 nautical miles (nm) long, will take roughly three weeks to complete, and is one major reason why many of the sailors in the fleet are competing in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The route takes the boats close to Point Nemo, the remotest place from land, in the South Pacific where the nearest humanity can be found in the space stations patrolling the earth.

It will also take the fleet back into the Atlantic for the closing stages of the leg for the first time since November, but, memorably for most, they will pass Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean on the tip of South America.

Ever since the 17th century when it was first regularly navigated by trade shipping, Cape Horn has been an iconic landmark for all sailors although it has claimed many victims over the years.

More people have reached the summit of Everest than sailed around Cape Horn. Waves can reach up to 30 metres (100 feet), roughly the length of a Volvo Ocean 65 mast, and the only company the sailors have will be albatrosses.

Many see the leg as a key staging post in the overall race. Simon Fisher (GBR), navigator for current leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), summed up: "There's nowhere else on earth where you can do so much fast downwind sailing for so long," he said.

"It's going to be the first time the whole fleet sees a lot of wind for an extended period and it might shuffle the pack. Keeping in one piece all the way to the Horn is important, because that's where the race will be won and lost."

The same leg caused havoc to the fleet in the last edition in 2011-12 with only winners Puma escaping serious damage and eventual event victors Groupama limping home with a jury rig.

Nevertheless, so many hardened Volvo Ocean Race sailors keep coming back for more with the massively experienced Stu Bannatyne (NZL) and Damian Foxall (IRE) being recruited for this leg by Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) and Dongfeng Race Team respectively.

Bannatyne, a six-time race veteran, did not need much persuading, it seems. "This," he said, "is the best sailing in the world."

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing started the stage level on eight points with Dongfeng Race Team, but are race leaders courtesy of their superior in-port series record.

They are trailed by Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) on 14 points, Team Alvimedica and Leg 4 victors MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) on 16, and New Zealand Herald Auckland In-Port Race winners Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) on 24.

The boats are expected to arrive in Itajaí around April 7.

#VOR - They may be training behind the pack on the race legs, but the women of Team SCA flexed their muscle in Auckland, New Zealand a few hours ago to take their second in-port race victory of the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race.

And as the VOR website reports, it was a convincing victory at that, as they look the lead from the start line and held position through the course that took the fleet under the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Team skipper Sam Davies said the win would "boost our team's morale for the next few days" as the six-boat fleet awaits the passing of Tropical Cyclone Sam before they can safely embark on the voyage across the Southern Ocean to South America and Itajai in Brazil - the longest leg of the race by far at some 6,776 nautical miles.

The win marks the all-female team's biggest highlight of the VOR since their New Year in-port race first place in Abu Dhabi.

#VOR - Team Vestas Wind "was unaware of any navigational danger, in its vicinity, incorrectly assessed the minimum chart depth at Cargados Carajos Shoals to be 40 metres and understood that it was safe to sail across the shoals."

That's how the panel conducting the independent report into the grounding of the Danish team's yacht in the Indian Ocean on the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race summed up the situation that led to the incident.

As the official VOR website reports, the results of the investigation were published today (Monday 9 March) and were based on data recorded at the time of the grounding plus interviews with the crew, race management and other parties.

Despite navigator Wouter Verbraak stepping down from the team earlier this year, the investigative panel – comprising Rear Admiral (Rtd) Chris Oxenbould (chair), Stan Honey and Chuck Hawley – did not single out any individuals for blame, but did note that there were "deficiencies in the use of electronic charts and other navigational data" on board the vessel, currently under repairs in Italy with plans to rejoin the race for the final leg this summer.

There were also "deficiencies in the cartography presenting the navigational dangers on the small and medium scales of the chart system in use."

However, the report said the team's emergency management in response to the grounding "worked well and there were no administrative or race management issues that contributed to the incident."

The VOR website has much more on the story HERE.

#volvooceanrace – Victory in the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was so close that Dongfeng Race Team skipper Charles Caudrelier (FRA) could almost taste it on Thursday, but with just over 500 nautical miles (nm) to go, he was taking nothing for granted.

The fleet is expected to arrive at their destination, Auckland, on New Zealand's North Island, on Saturday afternoon local time after 20 days of head-to-head racing.

Rarely in the 41–year history of offshore racing's world event can such a long leg (5,264nm) have been so closely contested by the entire fleet.

Just 51.8nm separated leaders, Dongfeng Race Team, from the last-placed boat, Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), and with light winds expected in the final stretch, there was every possibility that the fleet could bunch even closer together.

Caudrelier's crew, victors in the previous leg from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, were pursued by Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), just 3.5nm in their wake, with MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández/ESP) still holding third spot, 12.3nm in arrears (0340 UTC).

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) led a second pack of three boats, 33.7nm behind the leaders, with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Team SCA chasing them (see panel above).

In a message from his boat, Caudrelier wrote: "Since last night, we re-took the lead again and with it, the pressure of being in front.

"To be in the lead after all the hard knocks we've taken on this leg is without doubt one of our team's proudest moments since the start of this race (on October 11 last year).

"We've had really hard moments, phases of total exhaustion, and moments of real frustration and anger, but onboard there is always someone ready to motivate the others, someone with a positive outlook."

The Chinese team's success so far has been all the more extraordinary for bouncing back from a partially disconnected mast track, which attaches the mainsail to the mast, a week ago.

The Dongfeng crew dropped back to last place while it was repaired, but within 48 hours had picked off the rest of the six-strong fleet, one-by-one, to claim the lead.

Caudrelier continued: "I'm looking forward to the next few days. The two main obstacles are the crossing of an old weather front in 24 hours' time, and the finish, which looks light. I'm not sure yet whether it's upwind or downwind, it's not clear.

"It could be a total restart, but I am really hoping that if it is, it's between the current top three. The other boats are now quite a long way back, but anything could happen still."

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's skipper Walker agreed: "I expect local winds and currents could decide our fate towards the end and it is very hard to imagine anything other than a very, very close finish.

"Until then, we continue to work on our speed and try to get ever closer to Dongfeng."

Walker's team were just one point behind Dongfeng Race Team in the overall standings after three legs of nine. In all, the race will cover 38,739nm, visiting 11 ports and every continent, finishing in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27.

#VOR - As Dongfeng Race team celebrate their home-port victory in the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, the grounded Team Vestas Wind are half a world away in the foothills of the Italian Alps.

Following the team's pledge earlier this month to rejoin the race before the final leg out of Lisbon this summer, the boat has completed its long journey from the Southern Indian Ocean to the Persico Marine yard near Bergamo in Italy.

That's where the damage sustained in November's devastating grounding on shoals between Madagascar and Mauritius will be assessed before the repair works begin - with only a tight four-month window to get back on the ocean.

Sail-World brings us this photo gallery compiled by the team's onboard reporter – and regular Afloat contributor – Brian Carlin charting the boat's road trip from Genoa to Bergamo, where the whole team will pitch in to get the one-design VOR 65 ship-shape once more.

One man who won't be joining them, however, is Wouter Verbraak, who last week was officially removed as navigator on the team. His replacement has yet to be named.