Planet Sport

The rich get richer. Ericsson 4, already in possession of two leg wins, banked further points at Pulau We.

Torben Grael and his crew, the overall leaders of the race, crossed the waypoint at 16:09:30 GMT to pocket their 4 points and extend their overall race tally to 30. They now have 580 miles of this 1,950-mile third leg from Cochin to Singapore remaining.

Telefonica Blue was just short of an hour behind to grab the 3.5 points on offer for second place at the gate. That puts them second overall on 22.5.

In a dispatch prior to their rounding, Ericsson 4 Media Crew Member Guy Slater reflected on the hard, upwind slog to land their prize. "It's taken a while to get here and has taken its toll on the fleet," he said.

According to Salter, there are a few remaining obstacles to circumnavigate en route to their final destination.

"The Malacca Straits are the next task, it could be quite a tricky and time-consuming passage. I have been up and down many times and have never known of much wind, the only wind generated by the huge thunderstorms which brew up during the day on both the Indonesian and Malaysian side.

"The only thing on the minds of E4 now are about getting to Singapore ASAP whilst avoiding the fishermen, their nets, the vast amounts of commercial shipping, the large amount of litter in the water which ranges from a plastic cup to the odd tree log, the tides, the sandbanks, the storm clouds and associated lightning, the pirates, the sea snakes and the areas of no wind - so not much to worry about."

Bouwe Bekking's men, camped out in the south on the passage through the Bay of Bengal, had held the lead over the past 48 hours. On the seventh day, E4 rose again - to the top of the leaderboard benefitting as they did from an unfavourable wind shift for the Spanish entry.

You could sense the resignation in Bekking's words when he finally conceded defeat to E4 in an email this morning. "Grrr, we haven't been able to hold E4, who always had earlier lifted breeze than ourselves. This has given them a more favourable angle to sail in ... and they were able to go faster than us.

Spirits have lifted on Delta Lloyd

"We did two short tacks last night, when there where small windshifts, which brought us more directly in front of E3 and PUMA. Baking very small cookies right now, no time for big moves. Second place at the scoring waypoint is still an OK result."

The battle for the remaining waypoint honours and eventual podium positions is bubbling under as reflected in our 2D Race Viewer.

By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, Ericsson 3, in third, led the chase at a Distance To Leader (DTL) of +15 miles to its sistership. That also represented the margin to the gate. PUMA (+18) was stalking in fourth place with Telefonica Black (+30), positioned south of the pack, in fifth.

Then came Green Dragon (+38), following in E4's tyre tracks and sharing her windward advantage so the picture could alter by the waypoint. Team Russia (+77), up north, and the ailing Delta Lloyd (+161) brought up the rear.

Spirits have lifted on Delta Lloyd after a broken hydraulic ram structure confirmed them as also-rans in this leg yesterday. The crew have a temporary fix in place and are nursing the boat at the tail of the fleet in the hope of making Singapore without further damage.

"Today was the day after the night before," reported Media Crew Member Sander Pluijm. "Everybody took the chance to get some rest after a busy night. Boat-captain Ed O'Conner and bowman Gerd-Jan Poortman worked all night to stabilize the keel-structure.

"We are still sailing with 10-11 knots. The crew is disappointed but also glad that everybody is safe. We are still racing and we keep an every 20 minute watch on the keel to make sure the situation stays stable. It was a scary situation but now everything is under control."

In an audio chat with Guy Swindells, Delta Lloyd skipper Roberto ‘Chuny' Bermudez suggested that the damage might have been sustained as far back as the parade of sail prior to the leg start in Cochin in which they ran aground.

And finally, a part-time job offer for Bekking on arrival in Singapore came by way of an email from Team Telefonica Shore Crew Manager Campbell Field. It read: "Bouwe, do you want to be Santa on Xmas Day? We are arranging a ‘Secret Santa' present thing for the whole team, and need a willing Santa to terrify the 20 kids at Xmas lunch. Unless you have any other volunteers on board? We will rent the outfit here."

Uniform supplied, but some challenging occupational hazards.