Sailing:Ideal sailing conditions graced the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in the North Atlantic today as the seven boats passed the halfway stage of the 2550-mile leg.
Although taking five days to complete what was predicted to be an eight-day passage, the boats have finally cleared the ice-exclusion zone south-east of Newfoundland and are enjoying fast-downwind conditions.
Boatspeeds are close to 30 knots and it was the winner of the last race now sailing as Team Delta Lloyd that took the official lead tonight.
However, places one to five are separated by just seven miles while furthest east, Green Dragon was holding a ten mile advantage over Ericsson 3 that is suffering from the aftermath of a collision with a whale earlier this week.
Whether or not the Nordic can overcome a broken keel-fairing and sail past, the Irish boat now seems set to continue all the way to the Aran Islands.
