At Day 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race, Team AkzoNobel is still leading the charge towards the doldrums, as per reports. AkzoNobel are in the middle of the fleet, with Scallywag on the West, Turn the Tide on Plastic on the East, even though they are still 600 nautical miles away from the doldrums.

Nicolai Sehested in the AkzoNobel team says the team has been fast the last few days. As they are few miles ahead of the rest, he adds that they are in a strong position to ride the wave of their speed to reach the doldrums first.

MAPFRE and Dongfeng are competing to lead the overall race leaderboard as they head for the doldrums. Charles Caudrelier, captain of the Dongfeng team, said the fleet is headed in the same direction as they seek safe passage through the “terrible” doldrums ahead. He adds that they are taking rest after the first tough days.

The team meteorologist Marcel van Triest opines that the Tropical Cyclone Gita of a few days back will turn to a tropical depression and complicate the South Pacific Convergence Zone. He expects a complicated situation north of Vanuatu. The six competing teams are set to face the doldrums as they race from Hong Kong to Auckland in the leg 6 of the race around the world. They will all face the doldrums by the weekend and the team that gets off first will race towards Auckland in medium easterlies.

With Scallywag in second place currently, MAPFRE are in third, Dongfeng in fourth place while Brunel makes the top five list. Turn on the Tide on Plastic is bottom as Vestas 11th Hour did not start with the fleet due to their fatal incident.