Another day in the race to Qingdao and the relatively benign conditions persist. It will not be long, however, before the wind ramps up and the teams experience the harsh conditions that this race is renowned for.

Spirit of Australia's skipper, Brendan Hall, realises that one advantage of the static conditions is that they allow his crew to rest and prepare themselves for the onslaught which potentially lies ahead.

"Once the sails are trimmed, about the only person who has anything to do on deck is the helmsman who must have utter focus and concentration for the duration of their turn on the wheel," explains Brendan. "Ocean racing isn't all about heroic foredeck work and extreme helming at high speed." Although there will be plenty of that to come over the next week.

Twenty four hours on and the north/east split in the fleet is much less pronounced although the distances to finish remain similar to yesterday and Cape Breton Island and Hull & Humber are still locked in their battle for ascendancy, matching each other mile for mile in the race to Qingdao.

"The teams have finally managed to get into much steadier easterly winds that will start to increase in strength over the next few days,"

explains Race Director, Joff Bailey. "The almost benign conditions that they have experienced since the start of Race 6 will begin to change over the next few days as the wind speed picks up and they make much better progress north towards the scoring gate."

The scoring gate, off the southern tip of Taiwan, is still some distance away but the three points for reaching it first are highly prized among the fleet.