SAILING VOLVO OCEAN RACE/Week 36, leg 9 Marstrand to Stockholm: RACING HAS been extremely tight with less than 10 miles separating the fleet as we sprint along the Swedish coastline on our way to Stockholm.

We left the tiny island of Marstrand, off the west coast of Sweden, on Sunday and we had already reached the halfway stage by yesterday morning on this short, 525-mile leg.

Leading the fleet around the top mark was a great feeling, especially as we hadn’t got off to the most perfect start. As the gun fired, the 15-knot westerly wind died away, leaving us struggling in light winds and a lumpy seaway. Puma sped away in front, but the overall leader, Ericsson 4, seemed to get off to a particularly bad start as the wind shifted to the opposite side of the course.

At one point there seemed to be boats parked up everywhere in the light, shifty winds as we tried to navigate the six-mile loop course off Marstrand, before heading out into open water.

We found ourselves almost stationary at the back of the fleet, but decided to hoist our Code Zero sail and stay on the right-hand side of the course. It paid off, as we made the most of the breeze and moved up to first place. We hoisted our spinnaker and the Dragon led the way around the top mark.

Telefonica Blue got to the bottom mark first, with Puma hot on their heels and we slipped in front of Ericsson 3 to hold third. This was a chance for Telefonica Blue to make gains, as their yacht is more suited to the lighter airs.

But all of a sudden – disaster. Telefonica Blue hit an underwater rock and came to a sudden halt. They’d been sailing at around 15 knots, but, fortunately, no one was hurt. They were just stuck there as the rest of us sailed by. The leg had just begun, but sadly for them it was already over.

We’ve been pushing as hard as we can with all hands on deck. That means little sleep. We’re running a system of four hours on watch, two hours on standby and two hours off. But even when you’re off, you need to get up to cover manoeuvres like tacking and gybing. In reality, it means probably only around 90 minutes sleep in every eight hours.

We need to keep up the pace to avoid a huge area of light wind which is threatening those at the back of the fleet. If we cannot catch the leaders then we could find ourselves suffering a very long trip to Stockholm.

We’d really like to make it a hat-trick of podium results after our third place finishes in Galway and Marstrand. We’re in fifth place overall, but we’re now just five-and-a-half points behind Ericsson 3. It will be difficult, especially as they are now in their home waters in Sweden, but it’s still possible for us to beat them.

The last leg from Galway to Marstrand was tremendous – some of the most fun I have had sailing on this race. It’s hard to believe that after eight months this epic voyage is coming to an end.

We’ll be in Stockholm for 10 days and then it will be a dash to Russia for the finish.