Spirit of Australia ay have won the race to Scoring Gate but Cork is back in the hunt. Cork, Ireland, crossed the gate in second place to take two points, moving them up one place to fifth on the overall leader board and skipper, Richie Fearon, says it's business as usual on board. He says, "We are happy to get past the scoring gate last night and now we're concentrating on getting to the Sunda Strait. The wind looks light up ahead so it is going to be 36 hours of concentration to get through the Strait where there looks to be more wind."

Cork and Uniquely Singapore take Scoring Gate points * Jamaica Lightning Bolt streaks through fleet during Stealth Mode "Three points in the bag, you little beauty!" That's the ecstatic reaction of Spirit of Australia's skipper, Queenslander Brendan Hall. Spirit of Australia won the charge for the Race 5 scoring gate to claim the precious points on offer. Brendan continues, "After an interesting little skirmish with Cork we crossed the gate in first place, to the elation of everyone on board. The points mean we are now level on points with Team Finland and we are still in a good position for this race." Team Finland remains the overall leader by virtue of their greater number of first place finishes. Cork, Ireland, crossed the gate in second place to take two points, moving them up one place to fifth on the overall leader board and skipper, Richie Fearon, says it's business as usual on board. He says, "We are happy to get past the scoring gate last night and now we're concentrating on getting to the Sunda Strait. The wind looks light up ahead so it is going to be 36 hours of concentration to get through the Strait where there looks to be more wind

The final Scoring Gate point goes to Uniquely Singapore. Jim Dobie and his crew are happy but they have their eyes on the main prize - victory on the race to their home port - and between the 0600 and 0900 position updates on the race viewer had overtaken Cork and are neck and neck with Spirit of Australia. Jim says, "It's the third race in a row where we have picked up gate points; the only concern now is the boats west of us who may well pick up better winds than us. I expect the fleet to close up again as we approach Indonesia. As we head near the Equator the tactics become increasingly difficult as the weather forecasts become more unreliable. Sometimes it takes a gamble on whether to head to land first and then go west hoping for acceleration along the coast or just stick with a straight line course. Anyway, the next few days will be interesting with plenty of sail changes and a need for us to keep our eyes firmly focused for any menacing clouds. Of course now the humidity increases making the hot conditions even more uncomfortable." The weather is a topic of conversation wherever you are and the thermostat is never quite right, it would seem. While the UK and most of northern Europe is in the grip of the harshest winter for 30 years, the crews are struggling in the heat. Richie says, "Life on board is very warm but we got a welcomed rain shower today which cooled us down and refreshed us for a new lease of life. We can complain all we want about the heat but with the stories coming from home and what we'll be going through in a month's time I think this crew are going to appreciate what they have for now!" As they approach the Equator the weather is beginning to throw in some curve balls. "We had our first tropical squall this morning, with the wind shooting from 5 to 28 knots in the space of a few minutes," says Brendan. "Quick thinking and decisive action meant that we got our light weight spinnaker down early and our heavier sails up, avoiding any damage. The squall has now passed and we are virtually becalmed again. Welcome back to the Doldrums!" Jamaica Lightning Bolt has emerged from Stealth Mode and has moved up through the fleet during but there's the tiniest hint of disappointment in skipper, Peter Stirling's report to the race office this morning.

He says, "The plan to get to the front of the fleet during our Stealth Mode didn't quite work out. We did however manage to climb a few places and we believe we can gain a few more yet. The winds are forecast to be slightly stronger in the west and we have a better sailing angle. The GRIBs (weather files) are however starting to become less and less accurate as we approach the Sunda Straits. "During the last eight hours we have had good boat speed bang on course though it has required a lot of hard work by the crew to achieve this. We ran through the night with full mainsail and lightweight spinnaker but changed down to the heavyweight spinnaker just after dawn. Since then we have had two rain squalls pass through and dropped the spinnaker in favour of the Yankee 2 as they approached. To maintain speed we switched to the Yankee 1 in between the squalls. Squalls can be very dangerous with winds strengths rising rapidly to 50 knots+ as they hit. The two we had were fairly benign but you can never be sure. The crew however took advantage of the heavy rain to have an impromptu deck shower." The wind to the west is, historically, more reliable and Qingdao and Team Finland are also following Jamaica Lightning Bolt's lead. Currently in tenth place Chris Stanmore-Major, skipper of the Chinese entry, admits, "The front of the fleet feels very far away at the moment on Qingdao where light winds have dogged us for the past two days. In the Southern Ocean with 30 knots of wind it is easy to feel yourself reeling in those ahead and optimism is high always. This morning as we trundle along at six knots in barely six knots of wind, attempting to trim to every zephyr and puff, it is easy to begin to believe that you will never catch up, that the race is already run and that perhaps it would be easier to just to hand out the pennants now. Or maybe not. Our experience in the race thus far shows that large gains can be made as boats ahead find wind holes and develop gear problems. We know that with hard work and perseverance it is possible to regain positions quickly as the fickle ways of the winds favour some and not others." No-one in Clipper 09-10 round the world yacht race knows this better than the crew of California. Jamaica Lightning Bolt slid ahead of them into fourth place overnight and it hasn't been an easy one for the crew, according to skipper Pete Rollason. He says, "It's been a night of frustration with incredibly light winds and miles lost to the leaders. However we managed to pull a couple of extra miles from the boat behind so we're trying to consolidate our position and now build our attack on the podium. The wind has filled in and we are flying along in eight knots apparent reaching under lightweight spinnaker and main. It's great sailing although the temperatures are continuing to rise (currently 34 degrees) but the crew is totally focussed on the challenge of California's first podium finish (of many!)." The erstwhile leader of Race 5, Cape Breton Island, is now back in seventh place.

"We are all disappointed on missing out on the gate after having such a strong start," says skipper Jan Ridd, "But we have now picked up a decent breeze and are making good speed towards our next waypoint hoping we can make up some ground on the boats ahead of us." Hull & Humber's crew have the same idea and are completely focussed on the task, according to skipper, Piers Dudin. He says, "Jo Allen has been training the troops in the fine art of spinnaker trimming and now they can't get enough of it. Day and night it's all we seem to talk about. But the results are showing as we're chasing down the top five. After a few days of the wind shifting us away from our desired course we're nicely on track. Our spinnaker peels and fancy gybes continue day and night now and the spider's web of lines running all over the deck needs constant tidying in case they start building themselves into a nest." Hull & Humber and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital found themselves occupying the same patch of the vast Indian Ocean in the last 24 hours, providing some excitement for the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital's crew who are being slowed down by the light winds. Skipper, Matt Pike says, "There was at least a small breeze overnight which had us moving and a close encounter with Hull & Humber added some excitement.

There were more sightings later as they gybed their way backwards and forwards across the sea. The constant, subtle shifts in wind direction keep us busy and the holes stop us making any headway, but we soldier on determined to make up the ground we lost." So, post scoring gate, what does the next 900 miles hold for the crew on this highly technical stage of Clipper 09-10? Race Director Joff Bailey says, "All of the teams will be focusing on getting into the Sunda Straits, the narrow waterway ahead of them. Those that can get there first should have the advantage for the rest of the race up to Singapore as they will be able to cover the teams behind them - however it is by no means guaranteed. "Although Spirit of Australia is leading at the moment the winds over the next 200 to 300 miles will be very unreliable and extremely fickle with occasional squally showers thrown in just to keep the crew on their toes. Historically the wind to the west has been more reliable and we may see Jamaica Lightning Bolt and the teams further west take advantage of this. Whilst in the Straits the crews may be able to catch a glimpse of the Krakatoa volcano." In the last 12 months the volcano has been going through a period of renewed activity so there is a good chance the crews will see plumes of smoke and volcanic ash billowing into the sky during the day and even the red glow of molten lava spilling down the sides of the mountain if they pass by at night. The action on the real race course is also being fought out in the virtual world. The leading teams in the Clipper Virtual Race are, like the real 68-foot ocean racers, also stuck in light winds as they also approach Sunda Straits. Sign up to take part for free and see if you can beat the Clipper crews to Singapore! The fleet will arrive in Singapore with a colourful welcome ceremony at Marina at Keppel Bay on Saturday 23 January.

POSITIONS AT 0900 UTC, SUNDAY 10 JANUARY 2010 1 Spirit of Australia DTF 913 2 Uniquely Singapore DTF 913 DTL +0 3 Cork DTF 914 DTL +1 4 Jamaica Lightning Bolt DTF 928 DTL +15 5 California DTF 936 DTL +22 6 Hull & Humber DTF 942 DTL +29 7 Cape Breton Island DTF 950 DTL +37 (position at 0700 UTC) 8 Team Finland DTF 963 DTL +50 9 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital DTF 969 DTL +55 10 Qingdao DTF 991 DTL +78 (position at 0700 UTC) (DTF = Distance to Finish, DTL = Distance to Leader) Full positions are updated every three hours and can be found at www.clipperroundtheworld.com.