All teams are back up to speed, having made the transitition into the trade winds. That means fast progress, directly towards New Zealand.
© Rich Edwards/Volvo Ocean Race
The previous leading gang of four - MAPFRE, Dongfeng, Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic - had the most difficult transition into the new breeze and have seen what had been a 120 mile lead into a 40 mile deficit.
It was a painful six hours or so, with MAPFRE and Dongfeng even pushing to the southwest at times, trying to get out of the light, unstable conditions.
The new leaders are team AkzoNobel and Scallwag. It's Simeon Tienpont's AkzoNobel, directly south of the chasing pack, who hold the lead as of 0700 UTC on Tuesday morning.
© Jeremie Lecaudey/Volvo Ocean Race
Scallywag, furthest west, is showing in second place, less than five miles behind in terms of distance to finish.
"We've been able to stay with the breeze a bit longer," said Scallywag navigator Libby Greenhalgh, talking about the transition to the new breeze.
"There's plenty of weather between here and New Zealand," cautioned AkzoNobel's Chris Nicolson. "The main one coming up is the doldrums."
That's still at least a couple of days away with the teams currently at about 17-degrees north latitude. The doldrum effect usually starts just north of the equator.
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