After five almost wind-free days, the fleet have finally reached the trade winds in the first leg of the round-the-world race.
The two leading yachts, illbruck and SEB, are 210 miles apart heading along the African coast towards the equator, travelling at between 10 and 14 knots.
ASSA Abloy and Tyco are
the couple furthest to the west, while Team News Corp follow in illbruck's wake.
Djuice, who are bringing up the rear, are heading for the gap between illbruck and SEB.
The fleet have experienced typical trade-wind sailing, with the clouds flying toward the southwest.
Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One are currently in sixth spot, just ahead of their Nautor Challenge syndicate team-mate, Amer Sports Too.
Dalton said the previous few hours had been "action-packed".
"The only problem for us is that the boats in the south have been in the trade winds longer and have had them stronger," he said.
Dalton said the most pressing problem for navigators now was to choose a place to cross the doldrums and decide how to actually reach that point.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is for the trade winds to blow from the east-northeast at 10 to 15 knots, increasing at times to 20 knots.
