There are under 72 hours to go until the start of the seventh leg of the Volvo Ocean Race and Team Telefónica continues to get into gear for the almost 3,600 miles separating Miami (USA) from Lisbon (Portugal). Crossing the 'pond' isn't so easy and it's set to be one of the most complicated legs of the round the world regatta, with the fleet going up against an array of conditions and weather situations.

For many the Atlantic crossing part of the regatta is the supreme leg, not because it's the longest or even the most extreme, but because it includes all sorts of conditions. “It's the most complete leg in terms of conditions; wind, waves, cold and heat. It's a short leg so even a small error can hold you back and you won't have the time to make up the ground. It's one my favourite legs in this round the world regatta”, confirmed Jordi Calafat, whilst Xabi Fernández explained: “It's always said that this leg brings together all of the conditions on a round the world regatta in one single leg”.

Pepe Ribes said: “This leg normally sees a concentration of all of the conditions found in a round the world race: strong winds, light airs, Gulf currents... It's a leg that we all enjoy because it's a collection of all of the conditions we get in the round the world race. It's the final ocean-going leg we have and it's some 3,590 miles in length. If it's very fast, we could manage it in eight or nine days and if it's slow it could be 12 days”.

With “Telefónica” back to one hundred per cent and the crew back at 200 per cent, the Volvo Ocean Race is ...

On moving into second:

“We’ve been toying with second for a few days now, and we don’t put too much into it. There’s a long way to go and a ...