Running for Ecover

Conrad Humphreys prepares for a bumpy night on Ecover as they try to catch the EDS leaders

The work rate is pretty intense.  We're tacking on every shift and changing gears between the genoa and trinquette, trying to gain every ounce of speed out of Ecover.

Baltimore is now 1,500 miles upwind - a factor that favours the newer designs - but having held on to a few miles between Kingfisher and us for the Transat part of this leg, it would be stupid to back off now.

Position wise, we are trying to work with any slight northing in the breeze to get south and away from Cape Race. So far a shift late last night and one earlier this morning have given us a small break to get clear. We are however still a little trapped on the coast and will need to work the shifts to get past the Grand Banks.

Longer term, once this depression passes over us later today, we may see a few hours of wind from the north-west before it drops and goes light. Being north of the fleet, this may allow us to crawl back some vital miles on the leaders and set up a great battle for the final 1,000 miles. We  may hope to utilise the small push of cold Labrador current that runs along the coast of Nova Scotia.

With a forecast for a bumpy night on the Grand Banks, my thoughts once again have turned to comparing the last time I was here with LG Flatron in leg 1 of the BT Global Challenge. Then we dived north of hurricane Helena and ran down the coast of Nova Scotia in 45 knots hardwork in a 40-tonne challenge yacht built to go to windward.

On Ecover we are preparing for a night of slamming off the steep chop over the Grand Banks. We will throttle back a little to keep our kit in good order before unleashing a big push to catch the leaders before Baltimore.