Three point lead

illbruck Watch Captain Stu Bannatyne looks at how the Volvo Ocean Race may pan out

illbruck (right) and News Corp fight right up to the line

The close racing of leg 3 has reinforced to us on the illbruck team how tight this race is and how important every little part of our programme is. I know we are stronger again after our fourth place and will be right in contention for the next leg. We are hungry for another podium finish - nobody likes being beaten and we will come back fighting as hard as ever.

Tactics for leg 4 will be very similar to leg 2 with the emphasis being on reliability (no sinking!) and conservative tactics until we turn the corner at Cape Horn. It
will be very important to be close to the lead at the turn and equally as important to have the boat intact and a full sail inventory undamaged. The 2200 miles or so from there to Rio could bring anything from drifting to beating in 30 knots so we have to be ready for anything.

I think the racing so far has been everything we expected, extremely competitive and plenty of place changes. It was always important for us to make this first half of the race count as we knew the lesser prepared teams would be catching up fast. If a 3 point lead by Auckland had been offered to us in Southampton we would have jumped at it! Thanks, we'll take it!

Half the race gone but only a third of the points given away, a tough situation but it is the same for everyone and we're happy we have a three point advantage at the end of it. It will be tight at the end and carrying a small advantage from here on in could pay big dividends later. It gives us more options to take a few gambles later.

To date we have been very conservative tactically and you can be sure that will continue for at least the next two or three legs. Most of the fleet have already shown a careless willingness to put themselves in a corner and historically tactics like this do not pay dividends in the long run so it will be interesting to see how it all develops.

My pick for the next leg is again a very close race. I think the usual boats will perform solidly i.e. Tyco, Assa, News Corp and ourselves. SEB, the girls and the non-Farr boats are showing signs of being vulnerable for speed in certain areas and they may not be in contention by the Horn.

Putting aside speed differences it is still very apparent that the overwhelming factor so far in the results has been navigation decisions and I think again this will prove to be the case. And of course not breaking down will be key. The Southern Ocean was and still is a very inhospitable place that needs to be treated with ample respect and patience. I'm looking forward to it!