Races are all about a rush of adrenalin and the spirit to surge ahead. Who has time like the ‘slow and steady’ tortoise to trudge and plod on in slow motion in the hope that the winner’s post would still be rightfully his?

GET SET SAIL: A bird’s eye view of one of the participating boats

Today, while every second is about covering that extra nautical mile and transforming ones adversity into an opportunity, the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) plays out an unscripted suspense drama full of twists and turns, testing the ultimate levels of human endurance and skills in the deceptive water world. At the time of going to press, the race is in its sixth leg and it has become tight at the top. Ericsson 4 and PUMA are still heading the pack as they have
	ON THE DECK: The PUMA team shares a light moment
sailed past Chichijima in the Ogasawara Islands. There remains just the width of a nanoboat between these two, with the gap closing to less than 10 miles.

The race, which set sail from Alicante in Spain on October 11 last, had eight boats – PUMA, Telefonica Blue, Telefonica Black, Ericsson 3, Ericsson 4, Green Dragon, Delta Lloyd, Team Russia – participating. Mid-February, as the race has progressed to the sixth leg, from South China port of Quingdao to Cape Horn, only five boats are in the race. Delta Lloyd, Team Russia and Telefonica Black have dropped out. Helmed by skippers who have thousands of sea miles under their belt, the race would be covering nearly 37,000 nautical miles, before anchoring at St Petersburg (Russia) in June.

The ranking, fickle as it is, throws up a new favourite every day. When the VOR anchored half-way, which saw them through Alicante (Spain), Cape Town, Kochi and Singapore to reach the South Chinese port of Quingdao, the top three honours were shared by Ericsson 4, Telefonica Blue and Puma Ocean Racing.

But at the time of going to press, Telefonica Blue has dropped behind Ericsson 3 and Green Dragon, while PUMA is taking Ericsson 4 head-on.