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The Spanish boat is now less than 15 miles away from the New Zealanders on “Camper” who are leading the leg

It's a difficult day for the fleet out in the Pacific Ocean, where the objective is to reach the trade winds situated to the East, but to do so without losing sight of the main objective: the South, where Auckland (New Zealand) lies, the final destination on this fourth leg of the regatta.

Achieving these two objectives is proving a struggle with inexact met forecasts projecting conditions that don't often materialise. “The wind is still as crazy as it has been over the past few days. It looks like the same is happening with the rest of the boats: everyone is getting a different intensity of breeze from different directions”, said Diego Fructuoso today from on board “Telefónica”.

The Spaniards and the New Zealanders are locked in a head to head battle on their route South and over the past 24 hours the Spanish have made good progress moving up from fifth place to second having climbed fifty miles closer. According to the 16:00 UTC position report “Telefónica” has moved to under ten miles away from the New Zealanders when that figure stood at 65 miles.

To the North, American entry “Puma” and French entry “Groupama” share the same objective: to reach the trade winds as soon as possible sacrificing the southern positioning, because considering the lateral distances, the Americans are 160 miles from “Telefónica”, the boat furthest South, whilst the French are positioned 130 miles from the Spanish boat. At 16:00 UTC the position report confirmed a difference with the top of the fleet of 70.5 and 31.2 miles respectively. To see the final results before the yachts get on the 'highway' to New Zealand at the Pacific trade winds we'll have to wait to see how both tactics work out.

“Sanya” and “Abu Dhabi” have opted for a more conservative option and they are sitting in the middle of the fleet.

200 miles more for the results to be clear

On board “Telefónica” the crew are certain that the next few hours will be decisive in defining this first third of the leg. Approximately 200 miles and one day of racing away lies the zone that Iker Martínez and crew are eager to enter, where the influence of the eastern winds dominate and the trades that will allow the boat to set course for New Zealand will kick in.

“Cape has told me that this situation will last for some 200 miles more, so we won't know until tomorrow how this has will all played out”, said Fructuoso from on board “Telefónica”, who also sent a message of hope for their tactics saying “we hope it won't go too badly for us because this is where the differences may be established that will set the theme in the leg”.

PROVISIONAL RANKINGS LEG 4

SANYA (CHINA) – AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND): 5,220 miles

Day 7 – 16:00 UTC – 26th February 2012

1 Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson) 4,236.4 miles from finish

2 Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +8.3 miles

3 Groupama Sailing Team (Franck Cammas), +31.2 miles

4 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +62.2 miles

5 Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +70.5 miles

6 Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +73.1 millas