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8:41 PM Wed 17 Dec 2008 GMT
Over the past 24 hours life on board has all been about tacking and stacking as the fleet makes its way to the nearest treasure chest - the scoring waypoint of Pulau We, at the entrance to the Malacca Strait, 500 miles away.
Telefonica Blue, having invested heavily in the southern-most route on the race track, continues to head the leaderboard. The lateral separation between Bouwe Bekking's men and the rest has grown to over 110 miles.
The answer lies 24 hours away in an anticipated southeasterly wind shift. 'The strings in our minds are very, very tight right now,' Bekking says. 'Keep going, and wait for the shift, or bite the bullet and go north, tough. We have nice leverage, but we need a shift to stay in the game.
'Yes, it's risky, very risky. We didn't have a real opportunity to tack to the north, so we stuck to our guns and believe what we see on the weather charts. It is a matter of breathing in and out and staying calm. We have all faced worse moments in our sailing lives.'
By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, Telefionica Blue's Distance To Leader (DTL) advantage to Ericsson 4 had been reduced to 33 nautical miles, a loss of six miles in the past three hours.
There is a game of trading places in the three-way scrap for third position. Currently Green Dragon (+47) holds sway over E3 (+48) and Telefonica Black (+52) while PUMA (+54) is watching developments with interest.
Meanwhile at the tail, the gap between Team Russia (+104), who are way up in the north, and Delta Lloyd (+107), following a more conservative track in the middle of the group, has narrowed.
There have been some hard yards on board
As alluded to in the leg 3 preview, this instalment of the 2008-09 race, a 1,950-mile slog from Cochin to Singapore, is all about the navigational challenges of tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, monsoons, fickle winds and busy shipping channels. And fishing boats. Hundreds of them.
So sailing challenges apart, and they are many and varied in these upwind conditions, there have been some close encounters with local fishermen. Team Russia caught one of their's on camera.
'The Volvo Open 70 is probably a more brutal and dangerous environment due to the sheer discomfort and the relentless nature of the race and whilst the race does take over you and your families' lives, it does come to an end. The fisherman's life however is measured out in generations and communities and when the fishing stops its usually a bad thing for all concerned.'
Today's health and safety report comes from the keyboard of Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl. He is deputizing for Media Crew Member Gustav Morin, who has been laid low by a stomach bug.
'Gustav is out of business, so I am allowed to write a few words today. We hope he will get better again soon, as he does not seem to enjoy it too much. He has been trying different locations onboard. His bunk - very risky. The toilet. And the stern,' he says.
'Suddenly there was an outbreak of black humour onboard, and one after one we commented to Gustav about different matters. Someone took his measures for a funeral chest, and someone offered him a beef steak with b?arnaise sauce. And most guys asked him if they could have his chocolate bars for the rest of the trip.'
Get well soon Gustav.
Volvo Ocean race - Leg Three Day Five: 18:00 GMT
1 Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 1046
2 Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +30
3 Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +40
4 Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +44
5 Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) +44
6 PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +46
7 Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +99
8 Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +106
by Cameron Kelleher
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Troughton Island, WA
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