After a tense night in light winds we seem to be poking our way through the high pressure ridge into better wind but I am not taking anything for granted yet. These features can have a habit of swallowing you back up. It is not really any clearer which of the boats will emerge in the strongest position. We may currently be closest to Lisbon but the boats to the south will have a better angle of wind all the way in.

Everything has been calm onboard and much less intense than expected. The ridge heralded a dying breeze and very gradual windshift to the left. We never actually stopped in no wind but came close on two occasions. We tacked three times and that was that. It appears that we now have to contend with a fairly light wind run to Lisbon including what could be a very tricky finish at night in the River Tejo. This could test everybody’s nerves – especially at night and against the current – hopefully our local knowledge there will come in handy.

Everyone onboard Azzam is fully focused on trimming, steering and stacking as well as we can. Each 3 hourly position report is eagerly awaited with both anticipation and fear! It is certainly nice to be in contention in the last few hundred miles of a leg and no more than this team deserves.