Volvo Ocean Race: Charging home

Volvo Ocean Race, Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, day 13 Big speeds and lots of water over the deck on board Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag © Konrad Frost / Volvo Ocean Race

The Scallywag crew is sailing like a team motivated to be first home into Hong Kong, charging west at the head of the fleet.

Scallywag continues to race towards home in Hong Kong, leading the fleet west in well-established trade wind conditions. At 0700 UTC on Sunday morning, skipper David Witt's team was leading by about 20 miles over team AkzoNobel and Dongfeng Race Team in terms of distance to finish.

But on the water, the Scallywags are about 70 miles further west, and 100 miles to the south of the their closest opposition. Although their advantage remains solid, the past 24 hours haven't been without incident as a crew member went overboard during a sail change. He was recovered within 7 minutes and is reported to be uninjured, with the team resuming racing immediately after the recovery.

Behind, Vestas 11th Hour Racing lost miles when they were forced to gybe to avoid one of the dozens of coral reefs dotting the area. "We are finally sailing in good wind again; the boat speed is back up around 20 knots and it finally feels like are closing on our destination," writes navigator Simon Fisher.

"The doldrums are doing their best though to hang onto its grip on us. Or that is certainly what it feels like. With an unstable atmosphere and a sea temperature of over 30 degrees it is prime condition for thunderstorms and our days have been punctuated by dealing with the towering cumulus clouds. That and dodging our way through the islands and atolls of Micronesia over the next 600 miles which will no doubt be heavy on navigation and light again on sleep!"