MAKING WAVES:After more than six months of hard racing, any one of four boats could be the overall race winner in Galway in six weeks' time

FROM HERO to zero, the past week has been completely unpredictable in the Volvo Ocean Race but we’re on an upward trend again as we close in on the leg-seven finish in Lisbon.

This entire race has been unlike any we have known. Here we are, passing to the north of the Azores after more than six months of racing and any of four boats could be the overall race winner in Galway in six weeks.

Normally, one team edges out in front in the early stages of the competition and, indeed, Iker Martinez’s Telefonica won the first three legs. But the second half of the race has been very different as performances among the leading boats has seen the Spaniards overtaken.

With days to go in this crucial transatlantic leg, the three remaining In-Port races in Lisbon, Lorient and in Galway in July could yet mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Meanwhile, we’ve spent the last few days moving back up the fleet from last place, having been the leg leaders a week ago. As expected, we ran out of breeze and there was a compression that allowed the back-markers to jump ahead as we left the east coast of the United States behind.

There was no obvious route through the Bermuda High pressure system though it was very tempting to chase a front passing over the area that would have taken us more directly to Lisbon.

As we threaded our way northwards towards Newfoundland, Abu Dhabi was the first to break away and rode another front eastwards to get a good jump on the fleet. Their opportunity to finally get on the podium for a leg of this race has at last arrived and Ian Walker and navigator Jules Salter did a nice job of keeping the Emirati boat up front. But now the breeze is filling in from behind bringing the rest of the fleet closer and we still have over 600 miles to the finishing line.

On Groupama 4, we’ve managed to jump up to third place for the leg, overtaking Team Sanya and Camper in 24 hours and now we’re hoping to reel in Ken Read on Puma. We may not be able to get past Walker before the finish, but there’s a ridge of high pressure to cross between here and the finish with possible options for approaching from the north or the south.

But getting past Puma is important for us, as is staying as many places ahead of Telefonica as possible, though we haven’t been paying too much attention to the overall race standings on board, preferring to concentrate on the job at hand with this leg.

Someone on board did the maths last weekend when ourselves and Telefonica were last and second-last, and that showed Read as the overall leader over Camper in second by four points and Martinez just hanging on to the podium by two points just ahead of ourselves.

That’s first to fourth places separated by just eight points; a leg win earns 30 so the lead really is hanging by a thread.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Sanya can’t mathematically win an overall podium place but their performances in this and the remaining two legs have the potential to do enormous damage to the prospects of the other boats.

Which is why the zone of light winds before the finish in Lisbon will be crucial. Getting through this as fast as possible will be the key but it has all the potential of restarting the leg or at least shaking up the running order.

Most probably what will happen is that the Abu Dhabi leaders will get through the ridge first as they have a good margin over the rest of us.

Puma is about 30 miles behind and we’re another dozen or so back but gaining ground which is why we’re optimistic about passing Read.

Some of the boats are going faster than others, most notably ourselves as we blast along on a broad reach at speeds averaging around 25 knots and close to the record of 600 miles a day.

We have a nice trim and are going fast, blasting along at top speed with waves washing across the decks constantly, but not dangerously as the seas are quite flat. Puma will also be very keen to put Abu Dhabi between them and us and we definitely don’t want that to happen as that would put the Americans ahead of us overall. Whatever result they get, they’re working hard to deserve it.

A drift-off close to the Portuguese coast is possible and this leg will go all the way to the finish and will be crucial for all the boats. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a much more compact fleet going into the closing legs.