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After a night full of tacks “Telefónica” has managed to make the most of the tough conditions and has notched up racing data similar to that of the leaders

After six days of racing and making it through a tropical storm, an anomalous downwind shift and numerous light patches, the fleet is now 1,900 nautical miles from the finishing line with such a tight margin between them that just 38 miles stand between the five top entries. “Telefónica” continues to look for a route in the North Atlantic before hitting a light patch that may see compression in the fleet, possibly putting all of the yachts back on a starting grid of sorts. Now, after a night featuring tack after tack, the Spanish team is now pointing northeast and it's a matter of time before the option chosen by both the Spanish team and the leaders converge. There is still some waiting to be done before the results of each of the strategies become clear.

The past 24 hours were complicated and the weather hasn't made it easy at all for the Spanish boat . “We're still pushing as hard as we can out here. Yesterday we did lots of tacks to try to make the most of the shifts in breeze”, explained Diego Fructuoso in his daily report from the boat. During the night the “Telefónica” crew entered into a veritable tacking battle with the firm aim of holding onto any future options. That's why the working pace on the Spanish has been furious, as the MCM from Spain explained: “I can assure you that tacking in these boats isn't easy at all, as there are few of us on board and I'm not allowed to do much. We have to move all of the material, personal bags, sails... from one side to another. We also have to wake up anyone who is sleeping. “Ñeti” was unlucky yesterday and there were lots of tacks when he was on 'counter-watch', as we call it, and he was a bit annoyed as he hadn't been able to sleep much at all”.

However, despite the difficult situation, the data for the past 24 hours has confirmed that “Telefónica” has been able to make the most of the situation they're in. At average boat speeds of 8.7 knots, the same as France's “Groupama” and the USA's “Puma”, the Spanish team has covered 210 miles over the same period, two miles more than Ken Read and co and the same total as Franck Cammas. The key piece of data here is the comparison with the leader, but after a day in front, only “Abu Dhabi” has sailed two miles more than the Spanish entry.

Avoiding the anticyclone at any cost

The weather forecasts confirm that at the edge of the anticyclone, just to the North of the fleet it may be possible to find some strong winds which may push the boats directly towards the finish. For now, the 10:00 UTC report has shown that the leaders have begun to point slightly south whilst Spain's “Telefónica” is maintaining a northeasterly course, so it's only a matter of time before the entries meet on the way and with under 2,000 miles to go to Lisbon and too many transitions to negotiate.

Iker Martínez's “Telefónica” is sailing at faster speeds than the top trio who are currently logging speeds under ten knots. There's no doubt that the Spanish crew are really getting the most from the northwesterly breeze of nine to fourteen knots.

Welcome to the North Atlantic

The North Atlantic has also begun to show her true colours, as Diego Fructuoso describes: “This has been a cold day of sailing with grey skies bringing upwind conditions and rain with it, which is the worst set of conditions for these boats. This is quite a change from the last leg where it was sunny and hot... Neal says it's just 'a typical sailing day in the North Atlantic'. I hope the next few days will be better and if we get a bit of luck we might even be able to improve our position in the leg rankings”.

PROVISIONAL RANKINGS LEG 7

MIAMI (USA) – LISBON (PORTUGAL): 3,590 miles

Day 6 – 10:00 UTC – 26^th May 2012

1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), 1,885 miles to finish

2. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +13 miles

3. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +18.8 miles

4. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), +35.8 miles

5. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +38.4 miles

6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +82.6 miles