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The fleet notches up high speeds over the first 24 hours as they await the calm ahead due to the high at the Azores

The first 24 hours of the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race have gone well for “Telefónica” with the boat moving into the lead of the leg with an advantage of almost two miles on second-placed "Groupama". The boats are on a southeasterly course in search of the Azores and are bunched together at present with more than 12 miles separating the top five entries, although it certainly looks like "Telefónica" is handling the pressure better than others, as one of the fastest boat at the 13:00 UTC position report.

Lisbon (Portugal) bid farewell to the fleet yesterday and after making her way through the river Tagus, "Telefónica" was back sailing out on the open seas.  "We are back sailing in the sea. This time it's the Atlantic Ocean direction Lorient, slthough we've got an obligatory waypoint at the Azores.  The start at Lisbon was really nice with lots of boats and lots of people cheering us on. we all want to dedicate a victory in this leg to them, especially to the 'blue tide' who didn't stop cheering for a minute", recalled Diego Fructuoso from on board the yacht.

Steadily the Spanish team began to notch up miles at an incredible rate and at 22:00 UTC the boat headed up by Iker Martínez moved into the lead of the fleet after a tough battle with “Puma” and “Abu Dhabi”. From that moment on there were many changes in positions behind the Spanish boat as their rivals led by Ken Read, Ian Walker and Franck Cammas became wrapped up in a battle which allowed "Telefónica" to stretch out their lead to 1.1 miles on "Groupama" in second place at 13:00 UTC and to eight on "Abu Dhabi" now in fourth. The team has also logged average speeds topping 17 knots over the past 24 hours.

Xabi Fernández explained how the ne situation is being experienced on board "Telefónica" in a videoconference this morning: "Everything is going well here. We've got some very good conditions and we're going fast, so everything is going well. We've moved into the lead, which has made us feel good. It was a good night, we were very close to "Puma" and we managed to get past them and now we've put two and a half miles behind us. We are all very close to each other so we need to keep on pushing and we'll see what happens at the end of the day".

Sights on the Azores 

For now the entire fleet is maintaining good boat speeds with "Telefónica" as one of the fastest among the boats at 18.6 knots with 17 to 20 knot north winds. However, aboard the boat the crew are well aware that it is onlt a question of time before the situation changes radically because "we're still sailing with breeze but it will gradually drop until we make it past the Azores. It looks like the first boat out of there will be at an advantage because after that there will be strong downwind conditions until the finish" said Fructuoso in his daily report. Antonio “Ñeti” Cuervas-Mons also highlighted how tightly bunched together the fleet was right now and that a change in positions for the leg could happen from one minute to the next and as the Spaniard points out: "All of the boats are very close together... yes, we're at the front, but I think the key to this will be the Azores, getting through the calm at the Azores well and then that's maybe where this leg will be decided".

"It looks like we'll get some good conditions today but he breeze might drop towards the end of the day, but for now it looks like the morning and the afternoon will be good, so we will push forward and see how things play out. We are all within close proximity of one another and almost certainly there will be a compression tonight. For now we have to push on, see how it goes and if we can gain a few more miles to add to our lead, even better" said Xabi from on board "Telefónica" to then cautiously add: "We are trying to sail the fastest angle for our boat. I think we're going to have a tricky 24 hours either tomorrow or the next day. it's obvious that whoever gets out of the no breeze zone first is going to be in the best position to then gain more distance so we are really going to have to fight hard in these light conditions. 'Abu Dhabi' came first in the last leg, making it out of the light patches very well and then taking a victory. We need to try to do the same".

Light airs, light clothes, light on food

It is expected that, at most, the eighth leg will last seven days, so on "Telefónica" the crew chose to take as little as possible on board to lighten the load as far as possible. That decision was taken thinking in particular of the light patch up ahead which may be a deciding factor for the final leg results. Diego Fructuoso explained: "We're all very light on clothes and food to carry as little as possible with us, so I hope that nobody has a togh time. For  now it's going well, the boat is sailing very fast and we haven't had any problems".

Minds on the leg... and the overall standings

From on board the boat Xabi Fernández was relaxed with the good start made by "Telefónica" and as the Basque trimmer points out: "It's all in our hands and that's all we have to think about. We have to keep giving our all and try to sail a good leg and be as close to the lead as possible. We haven't only got "Groupama" to watch out for, "Puma" is very close too and the only way we have to think is to push har, push forward, try to win the leg and do some great offshore sailing".

As the double Olympic medallist pointed out: "I think that the other day someone said there were only ten or fifteen days of sailing left., but it feels like there's still a lot of fight left".

PROVISIONAL RANKINGS LEG 8

LISBON (PORTUGAL) – LORIENT (FRANCE): 1940 miles

Day 1- 13:00 UTC 11th June 2012

1. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), 1,583.1 miles to finish

2. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), +1.1 miles

3. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), +3.1 miles

4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +8.6 miles

5. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +12.5 miles

6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +26.4 miles