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Paprec-Virbac 2 reported gusts of up to 45 knots overnight, making for miserable conditions on deck.

"There's a point where you're happy to just put the autopilot and get in underneath the combing for protection," Damian FOXALL (IRL) said from Paprec-Virbac 2 this afternoon. "But when we were helming today, it's still in full four weather gear and survival suits on.the whole works.it's still pretty heinous I would say."

The back and forth nature of this duel is relentless, with first one boat and then the other, making gains. But in the end, the boats appear to be attached at the hip, with neither able to make a decisive break.

"At the moment, they're right behind us but on the same axis, and a little bit faster," FOXALL said. "But they [Hugo Boss] are further north, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next 24 hours."

Current routing programmes have the boats arriving at the next scoring gate in the Cook Strait on Christmas day (European time). Behind them, Temenos II is sailing fast despite its keel problems, with Dominique WAVRE (SUI) saying they're trying to simply focus on racing quickly to New Zealand.

"Following a night with 30 to 40 knots we now have light winds of 10 to 15 knots and are getting near to the Australian safety gate," he said. "For the moment with the keel, nothing has changed so we hope it's not too bad...but we can't know until the experts see it at Wellington...so we're trying to put it out of our mind and just sail normally."

Educación sin Fronteras and Mutua Madrileña are both sailing well in Southern Ocean conditions, making speeds between 13 and 17 knots, as they surf along in the bitterly cold, gusty, wind conditions.

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