We are now nearly 24 hours into the race and we are settling into our watch system and daily rhythm. Its 4 hours on 4 hours off for the lads and Ian (Moore - navigator) and I grab whatever sleep we can between us.

Despite a series of problems at the start you would have to say that it has been a good 24 hours for the Green Dragon as we are lying in 3rd place as we approach Gibraltar.

Both the Ericsson boats are launched thanks to good boat speed and a smart tactical move to the north. We also did well north of most of the fleet but we were scared to go too near the north shore of the Alboran Sea for fear of getting stuck under the mountains.

As it was, we got stuck in the middle for a few hours, but we are now moving nicely again. On board conditions are easy but we do have our frustrations.

Our main frustration has been not been getting the position reports on time as these give a good indication of who has what wind where - the weather forecasts are virtually useless in this area under these conditions. We also have Tom Braidwood working full time to rectify our keel issues.

Other than that, the sea is flat the sky is clear and we have more boats behind us than in front so life is pretty good!

Position: 36:4:14N , 4:30:9W
Speed: 11 knots: Course: 213 deg

Ian Walker - skipper

Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news!

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008 with in-port racing, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race.

Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.