Volvo Ocean Race: Bekking's Team Brunel breaks through

After many days without any changes in position in the leading group, the Dutch team Brunel has worked its way up to first place with the most easterly course in the fleet. After 17 days, the Dutch team maintained a lead of 40 nautical miles over Ian Walker's "Azzam" on Tuesday afternoon. At the same time, the Danish team Vestas had lost a lot of ground by sailing too far west. The men around skipper Chris Nicholson had dropped back to sixth place. The US team Alvimedica had moved up to third place overnight. In its wake, the Chinese Dongfeng Race Team moved up to fourth place. Sam Davies' women's crew on SCA remained in last place behind the Spanish Mapfre team led by Iker Martinez. Rapid position changes like these are likely to occur again and again in the coming days due to the St Helena High and its doldrums.

Amory Ross noted on board Team Alvimedica in his blog: "We are facing crucial days of navigating through the high pressure area that lies between Cape Town and us. But we are highly motivated because the front runners are within reach again. We are ready for a fast final spurt towards the finish."

A more philosophical take on the race around the world was sent by Anbord reporter Brian Carlin from Team Vestas Wind: "In the world of the digital age, you can find anything on Google. Every answer is just a keyboard click away. There's very little original stuff left in our world. It has become a huge dumping ground for second-hand information. If you want something real, you have to initiate it yourself. That's what gives us our credibility. (...). When you wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning, it's dark, really dark. You hear the echo that the wind sends through the rig. You feel the walls around you bending in the waves. Your bunk rocks back and forth and you know that your watch is about to begin. This is authentic. It's our reality."

And that will decide who wins and who loses on stage one in the coming days. Which team will find the right "motorway" through or around the high-pressure area and prevail in the battle for the first success in the twelfth edition?