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"Groupama" and "Puma" have picked up the baton at the top of the fleet with their northern bid whilst Spanish yacht "Telefónica" and the New Zealanders on "Camper" have delayed their latch-on to the trades by a few hours

"Telefónica" hasn't had any other choice than to continue as the boat most South in the fleet with the force and direction of the breeze preventing the Spanish yacht from getting to where they wanted to be. The boats that went with the Northern bid are receiving an early pay-off, which has meant that both the French boat and American entry "Puma" have picked up the baton at the top of the fleet and are notching up faster averages speeds than those logged by the boats at the top of the general provisional rankings yesterday: New Zealand's "Camper" and Spanish yacht "Telefónica". Both yachts found themselves unable to do anything to get to the influence of the trade winds any earlier and have resigned themselves to waiting for their moment to come. 

Getting better, hour by hour   

Each boat improves their routing according to their current position in conjunction with the met forecasts. That's why Iker Martínez explained this morning that the team are optimistic about the coming hours: "Things are going well today and it's been a fantastic day for us. It looks like we are going to get out of this place that has made things so tricky for us. It wasn't the best place to be and we lost a lot of miles but it looks like we can get out of here and that's good for us, for sure".

Talking about the days ahead, the "Telefónica" skipper said: "'Puma' and 'Groupama' are going a lot faster and they are in a better position. I'm sure once all the teams are in the trades they'll get a better angle and they'll be able to get even more speed out of their boats. We are not exactly where we wanted to be but we are where we are, so we've got to try with all of our means to sail well and push forward".

High spirits and the desire to recover

The Spanish team are aware that they're not in the best place in the race, but they are also well aware of the full potential of their boat and crew. As such, Iker transmitted his desire to catch up with the top of the fleet: "Everyone is positive on board. The boat's in good shape and we are working hard, but we are simply not in the right place. Now we have to fight really hard because we still have 4,000 miles ahead. We have to keep fighting. When everything's going incredibly well it's easy to win the leg. If it's just going well, no perfectly, then it's a lot harder. Now we have to carry on pushing hard. Only time will tell, but we really know how to make the boat go faster, so all we need to do is to keep on giving it our all and hope that it goes well".

Welcome Mini Signorini!

Last thing Sunday emotions were very high on board "Telefónica" and all because of a special email sent through announcing the birth of Joca Signorini's baby daughter: "Having a baby is always something fantastic, as today is for Joca", said the Spanish skipper. "He's been waiting for this moment for so long! He'd been waiting for his wife to give birth in the stopover at Sanya, he went home and he was with her and unfortunately it didn't happen. I felt for him and for Lotta (Joca's wife) because I know how special this moment is for both of them, but we are here, racing, doing what we love to do and so both Joca and Lotta are happy".

Iker bid farewell saying: "I told him (Joca) that Lotta would recover well and that the baby will be fine. I can promise you that Joca is over the moon". Also in his daily report from the boat, Diego Fructuoso couldn't disguise the excitement at the eagerly awaited news and wrote: "At last we've got a new Team Telefónica fan, and in this case, she's a girl: last night Lotta, Joca's wife gave birth. We celebrated with a few drags on a "Habano" cigar that we'd brought with us for when we heard the news. She hasn't been named yet, so let's call her 'Mini Signorini'. Joca spoke to his wife and everything is perfect. Congratulations!".

PROVISIONAL RANKINGS LEG 4

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

Day 8 – 10:00 UTC – 27th February 2012

1 Groupama Sailing Team (Franck Cammas), 3955.5 miles from finish

2 Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +44.7 miles

3 Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +62.1 miles

4 Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +74.3 miles

5 Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +82.3 miles

6  Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +93.9 miles