MAKING WAVES:THAT'S BETTER. After our rather lacklustre, back-of-the-pack start from Itajai one month ago on leg six, the latest stage of the Volvo Ocean Race was far more promising for us on Groupama 4 after we said goodbye to Miami on Sunday afternoon.

Just over 48 hours into leg seven to Lisbon, we’re at the front of the fleet that is back to its full complement of six boats following the return of Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya after repairs.

But this lead probably isn’t going to hold. Even though we managed to leverage a jump of almost 50 miles on the pack on Monday night, the bungee cord between us is tightening once more as we sail into lighter winds and the fleet compresses once again.

Even though the start on Sunday was testing –­almost no wind for most of the short legs off Miami Beach – our skipper Franck Cammas did well to keep us up front and we departed Florida on a high.

The previous day, we placed second in the in-port race that Ian Walker on Abu Dhabi Ocean racing won but more importantly, overall race leader Iker Martinez on Telefonica finished last, again. More about that later.

After the leg start on Sunday, our navigator Jean-Luc Nelias positioned us nicely along the north-going Gulf Stream current to hitch a ride on the tail end of Tropical Storm Alberto that caught many locals by surprise as hurricane season usually doesn’t start until June at least.

That play allowed us to break away from the pack early as we headed away from the Gulf Stream and the eastern seaboard of the United States.

However, on the edges of the stream that adds about two knots of speed, back eddies can also form and for a while yesterday we were being carried south at almost the same rate.

At the same time, heading deeper into the Atlantic means heading towards the Azores high-pressure system which we want to avoid as much as possible as the winds are lightest in the centre. In turn, the centre of the system exactly blocks our direct path to Lisbon.

So for now, we are concentrating on sailing fast and not necessarily directly towards the finishing-line, at least not for now.

The boats behind us are carrying more wind so will certainly gain on us and it’s likely that we’ll have another restart.

It’s also likely that this is going to happen a few more times between now and the finish sometime next week as we play the weather systems of the north Atlantic.

The disrupted weather patterns also means there is no sign of the more usual Westerlies from the depressions crossing the Atlantic to north-west Europe that we would try and hitch a ride on, together with the Gulf Stream, for a fast passage north.

Perhaps that may change in a few days but for now, it looks like we’ll be much further south than the usual route that includes an Exclusion Zone close to Nova Scotia around the Grand Banks area.

That part of the world has a deservedly fearsome reputation with some of the worst conditions almost on a par with the Southern Ocean.

Even closer to home, near the Western Approaches, the seas can be deadly.

At the prize-giving ceremony for the pro-am races in Miami on Friday, the fleet remembered the anniversary of the death of Hans Horrevoets, the Dutch sailor who was swept off ABN AMRO 2 in 2006 when a wave washed him overboard. None of us want to see anyone lost in an ocean race and his memory is a constant reminder of the potential risks we face. Nevertheless, the pressure is on for sure and incredibly, with less than three legs remaining in the race, any one of four boats could win outright.

Normally, by now there would be a clear leader if not an actual winner just needing to complete the course.

We’re still second overall on Groupama 4 but the gap to Telefonica is now just seven points. Team Sanya back in the game means Iker’s last place on Sunday cost him an extra point compared to his finish in Brazil when the Sanya team was out with hull damage.

In Brazil, missing a mark cost the Spaniards dearly both in points and red faces. Last weekend, hitting a mark forced them into a penalty turn which left them last so it was another bad result that came on top of placing fourth – their first time off the podium for a leg of this race – in the stage to Miami.

The tables have been turned, but in whose favour remains to be seen. Galway is looking more and more likely to be the decider and that will be a finale like no other in the history of this race.