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Delta Lloyd mounts the pressure

As leg two nears the end of its approach to India, Delta Lloyd has slotted into 4th position and is sure to challenge for a podium spot for the finish

THE last three days have been cat and mouse in the run to India for the eight boats in the Volvo Ocean Race and in particular the boys on team Delta Lloyd. But fortune favours the brave and as O'Rourke said in leg one, "the good guys win in the end".

Here's the report so far

As of Thursday morning, Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 is beginning to tear itself away from the rest of the fleet. Proving to be fast in the roaring winds of the 40s in the Southern Ocean, the Ericsson boat has proved that it can move just as swiftly in the lighter airs. Over the past 24 hours, their lead over teammates Ericsson 3 has increased from 5 to 51 nautical miles.
Behind the leader, Ericsson 3, Green Dragon, Delta Lloyd, PUMA and Telefonica Blue are tightly bunched, with just 23 miles separating the five boats.
It's Ger O'Rourke's Delta Lloyd that has been the biggest winner amongst this group over the past 24 hours: "It was an awesome day," confirmed navigator Matt Gregory. "We've made massive gains on the entire fleet...Today was a day of setting 'pick and rolls' off of clouds sailing in and out of rain squalls and an uncountable number of sail changes to quickly adapt to the changing conditions."
Whatever they've done seems to have worked. For example, they've gone from trailing Green Dragon by 59 miles on Wenesday morning to being nine miles back 24 hours later. And they've simply sailed around the west of PUMA, to make the pass.
But with 800 miles of tricky conditions left before the finish line in Cochin, there's still plenty of sailing left.

DELTA LLOYD LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB:  received 26.11.08 1951 GMT
Let’s see if I can sum up our day in the 5 minutes I have while waiting for our weather download from our satellite communication connection: this could be a difficult blog for me to write…to tap into the communication side of my brain, because the analytical side of my brain is working overtime today.
It was an awesome day.  We’ve made massive gains on the entire fleet.  All the work that we’ve done strategising about positioning our boat for ‘Race 2’ has paid off.  We passed both Telefónica Boats and are ahead of the Russians. Puma is 7 miles off our bow as I type this entry.
Today was a day of setting ‘pick and rolls’ off of clouds sailing in and out of rain squalls and an uncountable number of sail changes to quickly adapt to the changing conditions.
The rain was not only great for taking a quick warm fresh water shower, and the obligatory full body lathering of soap, but it was also a great opportunity to capture fresh water to relieve our injured water maker.  Using our cooking kettles, we captured the water that flowed into the centre of our mainsail like a funnel.
I won’t get any sleep tonight as we skip from cloud to cloud; this is full focus, high stakes racing in the navigator’s hot seat.  Gains and losses hinge on every decision and interpretation of weather data, radar imagery and gut feel.
Whoa…make that 2 minutes…Here comes a yellow blob on the radar screen…got to run…
Matt Gregory - navigator