Volvo Ocean Race: "This leg is full of extreme possibilities!"

It didn't take long for the four boats leading the overall standings to be in front again in the early stages of the fourth leg. Not quite in the same order as in the classification, but the trend remains the same for the time being: Vestas 11th Hour Racing, leaders Mapfre, Team Brunel and Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team were separated - in this order - by just one nautical mile around six hours after the starting gun off Melbourne. Just under four or more nautical miles behind them, Dee Caffari's "Turn the Tide on Plastic", David Witt's Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag and the Dutch team AkzoNobel, which was plagued by bad luck, material and crew problems, formed the chasing trio. Here to go to the live tracker.

The team at the back of the field had set their sights high for this stage: After the demoralising third stage, which Simeon Tienpont's team finished in last place after material failure, AkzoNobel should finally be on the up. The team had Australian Olympic champion Mack Horton on board as their "fairy godmother" for the start phase and the first hour of the race. The exceptional swimmer told the team before his spirited jump into the choppy waters of Victoria's Port Phillips Bay: "I wish you all the best for the rest of the race and hope that you can sail your way to a few podium places soon."

What the skippers said about the section from Melbourne to Hong Kong: "The most stressful leg!", "So technical!", "Full of possibilities!"

After the brutal first Southern Ocean leg from Cape Town to Melbourne, the teams now face a 6,000 nautical mile, technically demanding section of the race. "The most stressful for me," said Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier. "You could say that I'm most worried about this leg. It's very, very complicated." "It's full of potentially extreme possibilities," says Mapfre skipper Xabi Fernandez, "we have to be prepared for anything." Dee Caffari explains: "This is a big stage! There's a whole forest of islands coming our way. Islands and reefs that we've never heard of before."

The teams started this fourth stage with more newcomers than ever before. Only the Spanish overall leaders went into the exciting section of the course without any changes, but other teams fully utilised their opportunities. A total of 19 sailors came on board who had not sailed at least leg 3. This includes twelve who are taking part in this 13th edition of the team race around the world for the first time. 18 active participants are dropping out or taking a break. Never before has the rotation principle been used so intensively in the Volvo Ocean Race. The intensive rotation manoeuvres are partly due to the previous Southern Ocean leg, which with its stormy sections caused a whole series of broken bones, fatigue injuries and other ailments.

There has been a change of skipper in the Vestas 11th Hour Racing team because Charlie Enright is taking a break for a stage due to illness in his family. His friend and project partner Mark Towill has taken over the skipper position. "I know," said Enright, "that our team is in the best hands with Mark and navigator Simon Fisher." The Dongfeng Race Team has replaced injured navigator Pascal Bidégorry with former race winner and America's Cup skipper Franck Cammas. Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel has four newcomers on board: American Rome Kirby, Australian Sam Newton and Dane Jens Dolmer come on board as newcomers, replacing Louis Balcaen, Alberto Bolzan and America's Cup star Peter Burling, who is taking a break. Match race ace Sally Barkow comes in for the injured Annie Lush.

Here for a detailed overview of the crew changes and the crew list.