Volvo Ocean Race 2015 – Its anyone's race - Leg 4 to Auckland

Team Alvimedica - Finally out of the trough,Alvimedica sails south away from the final line of clouds - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica

Position at 0700 UTC 25 February - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Volvo Ocean Race http://www.volvooceanrace.com

Abu Dhabi has since been springing in and out like they are attached by elastic with Dongfeng. The Chinese boat now leads, stretching it to the most it’s been in the last 12 hours – 3.5 nautical miles.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - Roberto Bermudez 'Chuny' sits along on his watch as the fires in the sky kick into gear as the team heads for hopefully the last of the rain squalls at dusk in the Doldrums - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Matt Knighton/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing

For the last 150nm Abu Dhabi and Dongfeng have sailed almost exactly the same line, but at 0600 UTC Abu Dhabi looks to have got some separation to the east.

Dongfeng Race Team - Chasing down Azzam, the little spec on the horizon - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Sam Greenfield/Dongfeng Race Team/Volvo Ocean Race

Realistically, if they stick directly behind Dongfeng, it will be very hard to catch them up.

Overtaking would be very unlikely entering into a lighter wind area in the same place, so one option whilst being wary of opening yourself up to attack from behind is to try to enter the lighter winds surrounding Auckland in a slightly different place to come in on a different angle with different sails.

Time will tell but with the boats on AIS, they will be keeping a constant eye on each other!

At the time of writing it looked like Abu Dhabi had just a slight edge on boat speed over Dongfeng but both boats have extended a reasonably comfortable 16nm lead over MAPFRE who are followed 15nm back from there by Alvimedica.

MAPFRE - Sailing by Vanuatu - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Francisco Vignale/Mapfre/Volvo Ocean Race

Team Alvimedica - Will Oxley's glasses reflect the weather outside,quite literally - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica

Looking at the most recent grib files, the wind looks reasonably constant until just before the fleet reaches the coastline of New Zealand. Although reports from the boats have described it as fickle and Alvimedica had made a decisive move to the west – they must be lining up for some new wind and possibly an attack on MAPFRE.

MAPFRE - Night watch - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Francisco Vignale/Mapfre/Volvo Ocean Race

Team SCA - We are officially out of the Doldrums - the wind picks up and the boat starts to heel once more - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Anna-Lena Elled/Team SCA

Leader: DFRT
Wind speed: 16 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 15 knots
Wind direction: 172º - 185º
Lowest boat speed: DFRT, ADOR (15 knots)
Highest boat speed: MAPF (19 knots)
Lowest wind speed: ALVI (15 knots)
Highest wind speed: MAPF (19 knots)

Position report list

Team SCA - Carolijn Brouwer can see wind,marking the end of the doldrums - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Anna-Lena Elled/Team SCA

Dongfeng Race Team - Jiru Yang 'Wolf' leaves a message saying; Day 16, tired! - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 © Sam Greenfield/Dongfeng Race Team/Volvo Ocean Race