Photo: Amory Ross
After three days of sailing, the six boat fleet remained locked within 25 nautical miles of each other as they continued their rapid progress towards the first turning point of the second stage of Leg 3.
The current stage of leg three, from the Maldives to Sanya, provides one of the toughest tests for the fleet in the 39,000 nautical mile (72,000 km) round-the-world race.
Ken Read’s Puma Ocean Racing maintained their lead at the head of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, ahead of Chris Nicholson’s second-placed Camper.
Sanya, on their homeward leg to China, were bringing up the rear in sixth as they approached the northern tip of Sumatra.
Puma remained cautiously optimistic to be leading the race - a feat they have achieved for the third time running in the opening salvos of each leg.
“Last night was another good one, and we still find ourselves leading the race east," said Puma's Amory Ross.
“Holding our ground in the early going has neither paid off nor cost us, as we’ve extended a little on Groupama (now 6 miles dead astern), and have reconnected with Camper this morning (just over 4 miles off our hip).
“They (CAMPER) have been aggressively sailing back down to our line and if they come all the way we will be close, just as we were when they tacked to the north a few days ago.”
When the boats reached the congested waters of the Malacca Strait - scheduled for Friday - Puma admitted that the race lead is likely to change but that the crew were paying little attention to boat gains at this stage.
“In all likeliness, none of these small differences across the fleet matter much because everyone seems assured of the many windless race-restarts to come in the Malacca Straits,” Ross added.