With less than 1,000 miles to run to the finish, SHK/Scallywag has pushed its lead out to nearly 100 miles as of 0700 UTC on Wednesday morning.

It's still nervous times on board, but skipper David Witt is increasingly confident in his team's position.

"If we can do three more position reports without a loss, we'll be in good shape," he said. "The guys have done a really nice job. We've had some hard conditions, a bad seaway, but we've pushed really hard... We have to really send it - not break it - but send it."

There is an area of light wind to the north of the fleet and just about every other boat has put in a gybe to take a short hitch south. To this point, Scallywag has simply continued pushing west as fast as possible. 

Xabi Fernández, the skipper on MAPFRE, the overall race leader who is currently sitting in fourth place, seems to have conceded this leg, and is looking to protect his position from the boats chasing.

"It looks Scallywag have this leg under control, if nothing happens of course! Well done from them and in their home town! I'm sure there will be plenty of celebrations," he writes. 

"We have under three days of sailing to get to Hong Kong and we are still pushing hard as Turn the Tide on Plastic and Brunel are not far behind."

Overnight, Dongfeng Race Team engaged stealth mode. The team was in third place, nearly 50 miles behind Vestas 11th Hour Racing at the time. They will return into view with the 1900 UTC position report on Wednesday.

Written by Peter Rusch

www.volvooceanrace.com

Top photo © Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race