The Volvo Ocean Race fleet are spread across 13 miles from west to east with ASSA ABLOY and djuice furthest west and News Corp furthest east and the nearest V.O.60 to the high pressure, currently centred near Chatham Island.
The question now is how much further south will the boats need to go to ensure that they stay out of the lighter winds associated with this weather system, before they can head up and sail a more direct route towards the stronger winds associated with the Southern Ocean.
With these stronger winds, will come colder weather. Already Amer Sports Too, some 20 miles behind and north of the leaders is in an air temperature 7 degrees warmer. This was predicted by Mark Rudiger earlier, explaining how the crew of ASSA ABLOY were likely to deal with the conditions, "Every day now another layer of clothing, hats, gloves, goggles etc. will be coming out until nobody will recognize anyone or be able to understand a word they say."
With only two miles separating the five leading boats and ASSA ABLOY and djuice out to the west, the next 24 hours will prove crucial for the placings in Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Volvo Ocean Race Position Report, Day 3, 0958 GMT:
PS Yacht Latitude Longitude DTF CMG SMG TFHR DTL DTL-C ETA PO
1 ILBK 42 43.00S 179 13.04E 06245 177 10.8 177 0 0 19 FEB 02 29
2 TYCO 42 42.52S 179 13.24E 06245 177 10.8 177 0 0 19 FEB 02 19
3 NEWS 42 39.28S 179 19.00E 06245 173 11.0 173 0 -3 19 FEB 02 22
4 AONE 42 43.12S 179 09.92E 06246 178 10.9 178 1 +1 19 FEB 02 23
5 TSEB 42 38.56S 179 15.28E 06248 175 11.0 175 2 -1 19 FEB 02 15
6 AART 42 43.04S 179 00.76E 06250 179 11.2 179 5 -1 19 FEB 02 18
7 DJCE 42 40.04S 179 00.44E 06252 180 11.0 180 7 0 19 FEB 02 12
8 ATOO 42 17.88S 179 11.60E 06266 171 11.1 171 21 -5 19 FEB 02 6