Just as on Leg 2 the course of the fleet is now characterised by a zig-zag pattern as the sailors go through an intense gybing battle in 30-40 knots of wind where one boathandling mistake could have catastrophic consequences for the rigs.
Charles Caudrelier and his team on Dongfeng, the red and white Volvo Ocean 65 sponsored by Dongfeng Motor Corporation, are now about halfway to Cape Horn and travelling at high speed towards the most famous – and feared - landmark in world sailing.
The good news from the point of view of tactical and sailing flexibility is that roughly from this stage onwards, the restricted area to the south of them (AEZ) starts to fall away, giving the boats more sea room as they approach the tip of South America.
This is what the Volvo Ocean Race is supposed to be about – going back to the big South - and a very challenging few days in winds that most ordinary recreational sailors would not dream of going out in.
Images from on board Dongfeng show a grey sky with broken water everywhere and some very-chilly and wet-looking people – Jeremie Beyou among them - working on putting in a reef into the mainsail and using their full face visors to protect themselves from cold water flying over the bow.
In the latest position schedule Dongfeng is the most northerly boat after a long port gybe and a six-hour period when she has lost 18-and-a-half miles to the leader, MAPFRE, currently 70 miles to the south of her. Wind speeds are in the low 30s with boatspeeds in the low-to-mid 20s.
That leaves Dongfeng in sixth place, 32.7 miles behind the leader. Ahead of her Team Brunel is second (+2), Turn the Tide on Plastic is third (+4.4), Team AkzoNobel is fourth (+16) with Vestas 11th Hour Racing fifth (+19.8).
