Team Malizia — who were contemplating a return to Cape Town after mast damage in the first days of Leg 3, and who approached Cape Horn today nursing an injured crew member — have overcome all these obstacles and more to lead The Ocean Race IMOCA fleet past the iconic landmark.

“It’s a huge achievement for the whole team to be here,” said Malizia’s Will Harris with his team approached the Horn. “And especially to be here in the lead.

“If we think back to the start of the leg — the issues with the mast, and then the big winds the last few days — I think we’ve done an amazing job to be here. So we are proud of the full team to make it this far and also grateful to everyone back on land who has made this possible.

“It’s really cold down here at the moment. It’s slightly lighter winds, which is a relief after the last few days of pretty brutal conditions. And I hope as we get around the Horn, it will be calm enough that we get a good view of it. First bit of land we’ve seen in 30 days.”

Team Malizia passed the longitude of Cape Horn at 16:23 UTC on Monday 27 March — 29 days, four hours and eight minutes after the start in Cape Town.

In the process of leading around the Horn, Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann and his team join the ‘legends of the south’ as winners of the Roaring Forties Trophy, which is awarded for the fastest passage between the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and Cape Horn in South America. The Malizia crew took the Cape to Cape title in 27 days, 17 hours and 31 minutes.

With Leg 3 being the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race, this marks the first time the trophy will be awarded for a non-stop passage between the two capes that mark the eastern and western boundaries of the south Atlantic Ocean.

Racing in the southern latitudes — what The Ocean Race sailors call the Southern Ocean — is never easy. Each and every passage of Cape Horn has to be earned, and this race has been no different.

On Sunday (26 March), Team Malizia had a scary situation on board when Rosalin Kuiper was thrown from her bunk and hit her head, suffering a cut and a concussion. Fortunately, with the support of expert medical advice, the team was able to close the wound and Rosie has been able to rest and recuperate. Early indications are that she is recovering well on board.

Incredibly, on the 30th day of racing in Leg 3, Team Malizia have crossed the longitude of Cape Horn with a lead of less than 20 miles over Team Holcim-PRB, with both boats finally gaining some separation from Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team who have dropped 250 miles behind.

“It will be a fight all the way up to the finish in Itajaí,” is the assessment from Harris. “Team Holcim-PRB is only a few miles behind us. They’re doing an amazing job of pushing us as well. We’ll need our best game. It’s a long way to go — 2,000 miles — and we’re looking forward to it.”

The light conditions which have hurt Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team over the past 12 hours are expected to give way to stronger winds. But at 250 miles behind, their passage of Cape Horn is still some 18 hours away, now expected on Tuesday morning UTC (28 March).

Leg Three Rankings at 1800 UTC, 27 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 1,916.7 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 21.1 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 277.8 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 283.8 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

After 48 hours of building wind and seas, with gusts over 40 knots and waves approaching seven metres, conditions were starting to moderate on Sunday (26 March) with The Ocean Race fleet turning south to squeeze between Cape Horn and the ice exclusion zone.

The wind is in the 18-22-knot range and the waves are five metres and decreasing. That’s still plenty of motion on an IMOCA, making movement on board difficult but slightly better than over the past day.

And there is now a good chance the passage of Cape Horn could be quite light and tricky in very changeable conditions.

No matter the conditions, and whether this is a first passage or a fifth or sixth, Cape Horn remains an iconic milestone in the career of an sailor.

On the race course on Sunday, the fleet is diving south. Starting the day at 52 degrees south latitude, they’ll need to find 56 degrees south to make it around the Horn on Monday (27 March).

11th Hour Racing Team is trailing the fleet and furthest west, while the leader, Team Malizia is the most easterly boat, 200 nautical miles closer to South America.

Amory Ross, from 11th Hour Racing Team, reports from the American boat: “For the last 48 hours we have been surrounded by towering waves and wind-blown seas far more typical of the Furious Fifties, and visually at least it finally looks like the place we all came here to see.

“As gruelling as constant 35-45 knots of wind and the minefield of giant holes in the ocean around us can be, it’s part of what makes the Horn meaningful: you have to have earned it. 27 days is a long time in the cold south and we have had our fair share of issues to overcome, but I don’t think we have seen true ‘Southern Ocean’ conditions, until now.”

The 11th Hour team suffered more mainsail problems, accounting for their slower pace compared to their rivals. But they’re determined to ease the boat around Cape Horn and rejoining the fight for points on the final push to Itajaí.

“We’re fighting for every single mile and we need to make sure that we gain all that we can at the moment,” said Will Harris on Team Malizia. “It’s not about pushing the boat past its limit. It’s about working it hard in the conditions we have — being active on the pilot and on the trimming…We have to keep working it.

“It’s nice and sunny, the boat is in one piece and we’re in first place, so there is a lot of positives to think about today.”

It’s been a bit more harrowing on board Biotherm, as Sam Davies explains: “We had some really squally conditions with over 40 knots. Going down a big wave, the boat spun out, and gybed — twice — and as a result we damaged one of the traveller cars for the mainsheet which is what we had repaired at the start in Cape Town.

“We also broke one of the battens in the mainsail. A traveller car also caught on the tent of the cockpit and ripped the bottom joint away so we have more water coming in and lots of cold air, so it’s freezing.

“We will need to repair the batten and the traveller car as soon as the sea state decreases. It was proper Southern Ocean conditions — 40 knots of wind, eight-metre breaking waves. It’s just about the limit of what’s acceptable in an IMOCA and way beyond what is comfortable. But the boats are designed for this and luckily it’s been short-lived…”

Finding that balance between pushing and preserving has been the focus on Team Holcim-PRB as well.

“It’s been stressful,” Sam Goodchild said. “Trying to find the limit of what the boat is capable of doing. We don’t want to break the boat but obviously we want to go fast as we’re racing and trying to find that balance is easier said than done.”

As conditions moderate, there will be time to make the necessary repairs and plan the passage north to Itajaí. But first it’s time to push to Cape Horn — an iconic milestone for each of The Ocean Race sailors.

Meanwhile, The Ocean Race has paid tribute to John Fisher, the Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag crew member who was lost overboard in the Southern Ocean some 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn on this day five years ago.

“John, his family and friends are remembered today by everyone in The Ocean Race family, especially those who had the honour of sharing time with him either on the water or dockside,” the race said in a statement.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 26 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 2,222.8 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 42.1 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 156.2 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 219 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

It’s the final weekend in southern latitudes, in the waters the sailors in The Ocean Race call the Southern Ocean.

In these Furious 50s, the winds and waves are on a one-way track from west to east around Antarctica, the continuous train of low-pressure systems generating wind and waves that are the stuff of legend.

Cape Horn is where it all comes to a head: the land juts to the south and there is a shelf where the sea bed rises from 5,000 metres to less than half that in Drake Passage to the south and to just a few hundred metres if you pass further north and closer to land.

This is where The Ocean Race IMOCA fleet is headed; the latest ETA is Monday afternoon/evening UTC (27 March).

The sailors are getting a final taste of the south this weekend, with winds a steady gale force 35 knots (65 km/h) and gusting to 45 knots (85 km/h).

On the race course, Team Malizia has edged out ahead of Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm, with 11th Hour Racing Team sliding back over the past 36 hours. The spread from first to fourth is now over 100 miles, but as we’ve seen before in this leg, another compression is forecast with the leading boats expected to push into lighter wind around Cape Horn.

“We are now on the last long downwind sailing part, heading to Cape Horn, with the last low pressure system that will take us to the Horn Passage,” Team Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier said.

“We are still in contact with Malizia who are a little faster than us in these conditions. We knew that we had a versatile boat, and that they have a sailboat that is suited to this kind of conditions. Our strategy is to take it easy without trying to do something you can’t do with the boat.”

“We’re flying down the waves in 30 to 40 knots of wind,” Will Harris screamed on the deck of Malizia where he was tying in some lines to tidy up the reef in the mainsail. “Full speed. This is epic! This is the true south. Albatross, five-metre waves…whoop!”

“Unfortunately, we’re bleeding miles to the others, being underpowered because we’re running with two reefs in the mainsail when it would be better to be on one,” said Charlie Enright on 11th Hour Racing Team, lamenting the damage to their mainsail that prevents them from sailing with a single reef.

“But we’re certainly in a better spot than after we passed through the scoring gate [to the south of Australia]. What the crew, and Jack [Bouttell] in particular, have been able to do and repair has been pretty amazing. We’re determined to eke out every ounce of performance from the boat, and it’s been cool to be racing within sight of the other boats.

“There’s 20 of us down here in this remote part of the world, and yes we’re rivals, but we’re also friends, we’re family. There’s a camaraderie between all of us, good banter on the radio, and it feels good for all of us to be down here together in this crazy part of the world.”

The forecast is for conditions to remain very strong over the weekend, with winds beginning to moderate on Sunday (26 March) before easing significantly on Monday, leaving the possibility of a relatively easy passage of Cape Horn later in the day.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 25 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 2,606.3 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 20.4 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 85.5 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 105.8 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

The IMOCA teams have the end of the hardest part of the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race in sight.

On Friday afternoon UTC (24 March), the most iconic of landmarks to offshore sailors — Cape Horn — lies just over 1,000 miles to the east.

But those miles won’t come easily. Gale-force winds and six- to eight-metre seas are on the menu for the weekend, before the sailors can expect to pass Cape Horn on Monday morning (27 March).

Team Malizia is 10 miles ahead of Team Holcim-PRB with both boats to the north of Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team, some 50 miles behind to the southwest.

“We’re attacking the last long downwind leg towards Cape Horn, with the last low pressure system that will take us as far as the Horn,” Team Holcim-PRB skipper Kevin Escoffier said.

“We’re going to gradually climb into conditions that are more like the south, with about 30-35 knots of wind and seas that will reach seven meters. Solid conditions, as you would expect from coming this far.

“The important thing now is to take care of the boat, take care of the crew and stay in touch with the competitors. Fast, but not furious.”

In fact, this is in line with another memorable reminder the crew of 11th Hour Racing Team has come up with: “Nothing silly before Chile.”

It seems all are in agreement that after a month at sea, the main goal must be getting out of the southern latitudes safely and with boats in good shape for the final push north to the finish in Itajaí, Brazil.

The weather forecast is for conditions to escalate on Saturday (25 March) with trailing winds near 35 knots, gusting into the mid-40s, and a sea state over six metres, before moderating slightly on Sunday (26 March) and again into more a manageable state for the actual passage of Cape Horn on Monday UTC.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 24 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 2,908.4 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 14.1 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 69.6 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 75.9 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

For 50 years of The Ocean Race, sailors have considered the Southern Ocean leg — the racing that takes place between Cape Town and Cape Horn, deep in the southern latitudes — as the biggest milestone in the event.

Rounding Cape Horn marks the end of the southern conditions, where deep low-pressure systems follow one after the other, unimpeded by land masses, the gale force winds building towering, fearsome seas.

Icebergs are to the south and the leg culminates with a squeeze around Cape Horn, where the land juts as far as 56 degrees south latitude, funnelling the winds and waves through a narrow passage firmly in the area sailors call the Furious 50s.

At the end of this week, conditions are expected to live up that name.

“The fleet is probably going into the toughest days of the race so far, with very aggressive weather between now and Cape Horn at the end of the weekend,” said race director Phil Lawrence.

“The wind is going to increase above 30 knots, gusting 40 knots, and we can expect six- to seven-metre waves on Friday and Saturday,” said Christian Dumard, the meteorolgist for The Ocean Race.

“I think we can expect the fleet will stay a little bit north of the ice exclusion zone to avoid the worst sea state as the wind gets even stronger.”

Dumard said that during the approach to Cape Horn on the weekend, the wind will be strong, 25 knots or so, before easing dramatically, and the sea state should moderate in turn.

“Cape Horn is a massive benchmark in sailing for anyone who is passionate about offshore racing. It’s the pinnacle,” said Francesca Clapcich, a member of 11th Hour Racing Team crew who isn’t on board for this leg, but was available for media on Thursday (23 March) to reflect on her experience in the last race.

“Last race, I remember, it was a mix of emotions. I was going around for the first time and coming from such a different sailing background — racing dinghies — I had barely ever dreamed about it…

“You feel proud but also it’s such a relief to be there with the boat and the people all in one piece. And then you turn to the north and the layers of clothes start to come off as it gets warmer and the weather gets nicer and of course you’re doing it in a team environment so it is awesome as you have a chance to share it with everyone on board.”

On the race course, the competition is still very close, with Biotherm pushing about 40 miles to the south of Team Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia. 11th Hour Racing Team has fallen off the pace ever so slightly on Thursday, now about 35 miles behind to the west.

Biotherm suffered a tear in their fractional headsail, as skipper Paul Meilhat explained in a French interview: “We had two reefs and the FRO [fractional code zero]. There was a steep wave and we had a serious nose-dive. When the boat came out of it, the sail was practically torn in two at the foot. We managed to roll it and put it back in the bag, and we then hoisted a smaller sail.

“This was our first warning shot of this big low pressure system… I think it will be reparable in Itajaí but not now, we won’t be able to fix it at sea.”

This is unlikely to be the last of the drama in the next days — the approach to Cape Horn nearly always adds a final challenge — so stay tuned. The ETA for the IMOCA fleet is overnight Sunday night (26 March) into Monday morning UTC (27 March).

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 23 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 3,374.6 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 12.4 miles
3. Biotherm, distance to lead, 16.2 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 35.3 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

The Ocean Race fleet passed Point Nemo just after 1730 UTC on Tuesday (21 March), leaving the most remote and isolated place on the ocean in their wake.

It likely didn’t feel as isolated as it usually would. All four IMOCA boats passed the waypoint within a span of 23 minutes and at the head of the fleet, Team Malizia just eked out ahead of Team Holcim-PRB to claim bragging rights by a mere 30 seconds.

This is not what most race fans expected to see after 23 days and 9,000 miles of racing in Leg 3. It’s not exactly what the sailors were anticipating, either.

“This morning [local time on board] we marked an important moment in the Pacific Ocean in this race as we passed Point Nemo,” said Will Harris on Team Malizia. “It’s bascially the most remote point in the ocean, the furthest place from land. It’s actually about 200 miles north of us but this is the closest we get to it…

“We’re feeling kind of by ourselves, although we’ve decided to bring some friends with us to Point Nemo… Holcim-PRB is only a couple of miles down here and the whole rest of the fleet is within 10 miles. We expected to be a little bit more remote out here, but that’s the way of the racing.”

The view from Biotherm was similar but evoked strong memories from skipper Paul Meilhat.

“We just crossed Point Nemo,” Meilhat said. “It reminds me of the Vendee Globe in 2016… I was in third position around here when I broke my hydraulic keel ram which meant I needed to retire from the race. It was quite difficult to reach shelter as it is the furthest point from land… But we found a solution in a French Polynesian island. It took me about eight days to get there. So it’s not the best memories for me but now we’re crossing it again and we’re heading for Cape Horn, about five days away.”

At 1400 UTC on Wednesday, the fleet remained compact — the spread on the leaderboard from first to fourth was under 10 miles. Having passed the northernmost point of the ice exclusion zone, the boats unsurprisingly gybed south again before resuming their easterly course. True wind speed is currently about 20 knots, in waves up to three metres.

There is a balance to be struck between here and Cape Horn, measuring up risk and reward. A cold front is approaching from behind with stronger winds and bigger seas. The impact will be more severe further south. The sweet spot will be to find maximum wind with a relatively mild sea state. To the south is a shorter distance to the Horn, and stronger winds, but managing the waves could make staying north a better, faster option.

The ETA at Cape Horn is Sunday evening UTC (26 March), and the most likely arrival date in Itajaí, Brazil is Saturday 1 April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 22 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 3,723.5 miles
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 8.5 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 14.6 miles
4. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 16.5 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

The four IMOCAs charging towards Cape Horn in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 are approaching Point Nemo on Tuesday (21 March).

Defined as the most isolated, remote place on earth, Point Nemo is a spot in south Pacific Ocean some 2,688 kilometres from the nearest land. In fact, the closest sign of civilisation is the International Space Station, orbiting just over 400 kilometres above the sailors.

But it is unlikely the crews on The Ocean Race are feeling lonely. To the contrary, the race is as close as one could imagine.

After more than three weeks of racing, the spread from first to fourth is still just around six—to-seven miles on the race tracker leaderboard, but on Tuesday there is a new leader — just barely — in Team Malizia.

“It’s an historic day today,” said skipper Boris Herrmann. “The battle of Point Nemo! We can see all the boats here through our windows. They are just a few boat lengths away and we’re all racing towards Point Nemo. It’s amazing to be sailing so close to our friends!”

The crew on long-time leader Team Holcim-PRB has come to terms with how the vagaries of the weather has meant a lead of nearly 600 miles has disappeared. But sailor Abby Ehler says they’ve been prepared to see the rest of the fleet catch them for some time now.

“The writing was on the wall a week ago that the fleet would catch us up so it was only a matter of time, that’s just how the weather systems roll,” she wrote. “It’s actually nice to be back in the fleet, it intensifies things and we’re definitely more on guard. Not to say we got lazy, more that it’s harder to benchmark speed and angles when you are flying solo.

“We have another couple of days of moderate downwind conditions and then we’re in for some heavy air downwind sailing… We’ve tried to plot a route around Cape Horn that keeps us in less than 35 knots but that has proved impossible so here goes!”

The forecast does get quite aggressive for the rest of the week. Westerly winds build to 35 knots and the sea state — especially further south — is predicted to be over six metres.

“The wind will increase — we’re expecting 30-40 knots of wind and a big sea state, maybe up to eight metres,” said Paul Meilhat on board Biotherm. “We’ll have to manage the routing to avoid the worst and still arrive as fast as we can.”

The ETA at Cape Horn remains Sunday night UTC (26 March) and at the finish in Itajaí, Brazil on 1-2 April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1900 UTC, 21 March

1. Team Malizia, distance to finish, 4,037.5 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 0.1 miles
3. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 5.4 miles
4. Biotherm, distance to lead, 7 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

Leg 3’s four IMOCAs pushing east through the southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean are seeing better speeds today, following a weekend of light winds for The Ocean Race.

Racing along the ice exclusion limit at 52-degrees south, the teams are in 15 to 25 knots of wind, and average speeds are back up near 20 knots.

And it is still incredibly, impossibly close racing: at 2000 UTC on Monday (20 March), the four boats are separated by just over six nautical miles on the tracker leaderboard, and 3.5 miles north to south.

“We are quite fast,” said Kevin Escoffier on the leading Team Holcim PRB. “I think when we are close to the other boats we are ok with the speed…But each time we get fast and away from the others, they come back with wind from behind.”

“We are going well, almost in the middle of the Pacific,” said Nico Lunven from Team Malizia. “The fleet is very compressed together so we are able to monitor the other boats quite well to check whether we are sailing faster or slower, higher or lower than the other.”

“It’s all very close, the fleet is back together, it’s like a complete restart,” agreed Justine Mettreaux on 11th Hour Racing Team. “It’s going to be interesting. A lot to play for over the coming days.”

“It’s crazy,” said 11th Hour’s skipper Charlie Enright. “Despite the fact that there are these boats right here [beside us], we are just trying to race ourselves, not change our philosophy. There is a lot of race left and particularly before Cape Horn we know that there is going to be some big weather. So we really want to keep this boat in one piece and we’ll go from there.”

The longer range forecast is for more ‘southern ocean’ type conditions on the approach to Cape Horn next weekend, when the fleet will be squeezed between an ice exclusion zone that is unusually far north due to confirmed ice sightings and perhaps the most infamous rocky outcropping in the world, which will force them to dive far to the south, dipping as far as 57-degrees south.

Very strong westerly winds — and an accompanying sea state upwards of six metres — is the current prediction for Cape Horn, so the sailors have enjoyed their last days of relative calm with two weeks of racing left to Itajaí, Brazil.

Leg Three Rankings at 2000 UTC, 20 March

• Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 4,436.1 miles
• 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 2.3 miles
• Team Malizia, distance to lead, 4 miles
• Biotherm, distance to lead, 6.1 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

On Saturday (18 March) it seemed as if Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23 couldn’t get any closer. By Sunday morning UTC that was proved wrong.

Today (19 March), all four IMOCA teams are lined up on a 13-mile line extending north to south, but separated by less than six miles on the leaderboard. All this after three full weeks of racing.

The reason for the close racing remains a stubbornly persistent ridge of high pressure and its light winds that is acting as a barrier to the teams making progress to the east.

In these conditions, the wind is marginally stronger to the south, so the teams have been taking it in turns to gybe south, dropping down the leaderboard by a few miles as they move towards the ice exclusion zone, before making gains back when the next team dives south.

This should remain the dominant weather pattern until Monday (20 March) when the ridge begins to dissipate and stronger winds return.

“There is a ridge of high pressure in front of us and a low pressure behind, so we are stuck a bit in the middle” is the way Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat explains the situation.

It’s definitely worth taking a look at the Content From the Boats page today. In the relatively calm conditions, teams are doing repairs, boat and mast checks and plenty of drone flying.

When Team Malizia’s Rosie Kuiper went up the mast, she could see all four boats from the top of the rig, for example.

While the past couple of days provided a respite from typical southern latitude conditions, the forecast shows this will be short-lived, with the breeze coming on again to start the week.

The latest weather routings have the teams passing Cape Horn in one week, on 26/27 March, while the ETA in Itajaí, Brazil — with less certainty — is the first weekend in April.

Leg Three Rankings at 1700 UTC, 19 March

1. Biotherm, distance to finish, 4,924.6 miles
2. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to lead, 0.3 miles
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 4.7 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 5.5 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.

On day 20 (Saturday 18 March) of racing in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23, the competition is incredibly close, with four IMOCAs separated by fewer than 17 nautical miles as of 1800 UTC.

The teams still have two weeks of racing to go. But with the positions so close, this weekend is serving as a re-start of sorts.

The lighter conditions which have compressed the fleet together have also given the crews time to complete much needed maintenance and repairs — on boats and people alike.

The wind is forecast to return on Monday and the ETA for Cape Horn is now 26-27 March.

“We have Biotherm just over there and Team Holcim-PRB just down to leeward,” said Will Harris from the sunshine on deck of Team Malizia.

“The wind is coming behind us with these clouds,” he said, pointing behind the boat. “And if you look in front of us there is nice sunny weather, but that’s the high-pressure up ahead with not much wind.

“That’s why we’ve all compressed and the fleet has really shrunk down together. We’re effectively re-starting the race, which is good and bad. We can fight for the lead, but at the same time, we’ve lost our lead over the ones behind.”

Indeed, Malizia enjoyed a few hours at the top of the tracker leaderboard overnight UTC on Friday night before slipping towards the back of the pack on Saturday.

But in reality, all four teams now have the potential to emerge with the advantage by the time the more typical southern latitude conditions return early in the new week.

Leg Three Rankings at 1800 UTC, 18 March

1. Team Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 5,204.4 miles
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 10.3 miles
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 13.4 miles
4. 11th Hour Racing Team, distance to lead, 16.2 miles

Find the latest fleet positions on the race tracker at theoceanrace.com.