Pressure is mounting on Leg 3 leaders Team Telefónica as the fleet continues to compress with just over one day’s racing remaining on the charge to Sanya, China.

Team Telefonica regained the Leg 3 lead from rivals Groupama sailing team this morning as PUMA gambled on a big split east.

The five teams who squeezed their way out of the congested Singapore Strait yesterday are set to face brutal conditions over the next 24 hours in the South China Sea on the final 1000 miles of upwind sailing of the second stage of Leg 3 to Sanya in China.

The Malacca Strait nightmare is almost over with just 70 nautical miles standing between leading pair Team Telefónica and Groupama sailing team and the open ocean.

The Malacca Strait nightmare is almost over with just 70 nautical miles standing between leading pair Team Telefónica and Groupama sailing team and the open ocean.

The six boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet remained locked in a sweltering hot struggle for supremacy overnight as they continued their relentless progress towards the first turning point of the second stage of Leg 3 off the northern tip of Sumatra.

Today may be the start of China’s Year of the Water Dragon but it is PUMA’s ‘sea monster’ Mar Mostro that is dominating in the Volvo Ocean Race having stretched their Leg 3 lead in the Indian Ocean drag-race overnight.

Hometown heroes Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing claimed their second inshore victory on Friday, winning the Etihad Airways In-Port Race in front of thousands of local supporters.

Team Sanya are pounding north on an upwind course in a bid to avoid a tropical cyclone that is hot in pursuit and packing merciless winds.

Groupama sailing team claimed victory by less than one minute in the second stage of Leg 2 after edging out overall leg winners Team Telefónica in a nail-biting finish in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday