Volvo - Ericsson 4 rolls Telefonica Blue to lead

8:30 PM Fri 19 Dec 2008 GMT

'Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking checking the wind, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from India to Singapore' Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race &copy Click Here to view large photo

In the tussle to be first to reach the Volvo Ocean Race leg three scoring gate, a line that runs directly north from Pulau We, at the northern end of the Malacca Strait, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) has rolled over the top of Telef?nica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and has a slim lead of eight nautical miles.

Telef?nica Blue made her move from the south yesterday but had to carry out two short tacks during the night, which gave Ericsson 4 the advantage. Ericsson 4 currently has around 65 nautical miles to run to the gate, which she should pass through later today.

Kosatka Team Russia meanwhile, is laying the line perfectly and, as long as the wind doesn't shift, the team could be on course to make substantial gains from their northerly position, and their 88-nautical mile deficit could be easily swallowed up.

'If the fleet has to tack, how close we can come and whether we can overtake any boats depends on speed and the wind direction the fleet will have after tacking. We will keep fighting for every mile until the finish line in Singapore,' Andreas Hanakamp said earlier today.

The battle for third continues to be closely fought. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) currently holds third place, is holding off an attack from PUMA (Ken Read/USA) who is just four miles behind. Telef?nica Black (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) in fifth, a further 16 nm astern, is being hounded by Green Dragon eight miles behind. Speeds across the fleet are around the 12 - 13 knot mark, and, based on this, routeing software is predicting the first finish in Singapore on 22 December.

Meanwhile, after yesterday's damage to one of their keel rams, Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) is making slow progress, but in the right direction. Bermudez says, 'We are all well and the mood onboard is OK. We have the canting keel in the centre and we only have a small sails hoisted because we don't want to put too much pressure on the only hydraulic ram we have working.'

He added that the team had had some problems with the hydraulic rams two days ago. He said that the adjustments the crew made, to avoid losing oil, might have contributed to the failure. The team is still heading for Singapore.

'We will do our best at the scoring gate and the finish line and we will try to improve our position. My father used to say to me 'you cannot ever abandon a race'. We will try our best,' Bermudez said.

Volvo Ocean Race - Leg Three Day Seven: 10:00 GMT

1 Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 633 nm
2 Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +8
3 Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +22
4 PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +26
5 Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) +42
6 Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +50
7 Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +88
8 Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +162