Following the first full week of racing, the Aviva co-skippers have made the tactical decision to head west of the Canary Islands in an attempt to close the gap on the fleet to the south of them. The changeable wind conditions, fluctuating constantly from a light breeze to over 25 knots, have caused Dee and Nigel frustration. The co-skippers have been battling hard to keep Aviva's position in the race.

Dee said, from onboard Aviva at 0124 UTC, "Looking at the weather files this morning we were convinced that the breeze would fill in to the west of the Canaries so headed in that direction as fast as possible. That meant we wouldn't spend another night stuck close to islands trying to keep moving."

Having been previously overtaken by Akena Verendas, the two yachts are now on a similar westerly course with Aviva attempting to bridge the 40 mile gap.

Dee added, "All miles in the right direction are good miles. With 2,700 miles to Brazil we can be back in the hunt once more."

Aviva is currently in 13th position in the race.

9:54am Monday 12th November 2007

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