Positions in the fleet have shifted overnight. Whilst PUMA has slowed the rest of the fleet are playing catch up. Green Dragon's gamble, sticking to the west, seems to paying off and they have made big gains (over 40 miles in the last 12 hours), jumping two spots overnight to take back 4th ahead of Team Russia and Delta Lloyd.

Update from Green Dragon Skipper Ian Walker We are now coming up to a week at sea and it is passing quickly thanks to great downwind conditions. It is starting to get very warm down below making sleeping harder. The main events today were the numerous attacks of flying fish one of which hit Andrew and Damian full in the face. I now see what the helmsman's driving helmets are for! The other less fortunate event was Neal having to cut his wedding ring off to save a finger that he bashed. The swelling was getting pretty big so the hacksaw came out - sorry Lisa I am sure it can be fixed in Cape Town and you can make him by you a diamond while he is at it! Guo is doing some great work with the various cameras although Justin had to do a bit of editing after recounting some tales of his youth without realising the camera was on!

Back in the navigation station Ian is smiling for the first time since we lost miles at the Canaries, as todays polling shows that we seem to have done well on the fleet by hitching out hard West. It is a complex weather situation and anything could happen at the doldrums. For now at least, we are back snapping at the heels of the leaders - we thought for a while it could have been even better but the wind didn't shift to the right as hoped. As always spirits are high on the Green Dragon and we are rattling on South at 20 knots into a nasty head sea and towards the inevitable meeting with King Neptune at the equator - I am more worried about this right now than any scheduled positions.

Ian out.

The Volvo Ocean race 2008/09 has seen the introduction of the Media Crew Member (MCM). The MCM has one of the hardest jobs onboard, Green Dragon's MCM is Guo Chuan from China, he will be the reporter on the front line delivering all of the media content (images and Video) from onboard. Guo update us on life onboard:

I switch my watch to 2 hours behind to match Volvo Ocean Race's official time zone - GMT, which is the time guideline for all communication and reporting onboard. We have lunch at 11, dinner at 6. While for this leg the time difference as we head south won't affect out daily routine too much, the other legs, especially Qingdao - Rio, will cover several time zones, and as a result our meal times will need to be adjusted frequently!

After passing the Straits of Gibraltar and then navigating the Canary Islands, each team is now heading their own way. Today we have enjoyed bright sunshine and a strong northeast wind, which has helped to boost Green Dragon's speed. The past few days have seemed longer than others, as we have tried to catch up with leading teams. My day to day duties continue, as myself and Ian Moore work on the media station. It takes a huge amount of power and time (approximately 40 mins) to send just one minute of high definition footage from onboard. My daily routine is getting easier, and spirits onboard Green Dragon remain high. Green Dragon will have some crucial choices to make in the coming days, as we sail southwards past the Cape Verde islands and then head west. Although like Ian I am not looking forward to what King Neptune has in store for us at the Equator (this will also be my first crossing, along with Andrew McLean and Freddy Shanks), I am sure the rest of the crew will have a treat in store for us!

1200 GMT Current positions/DTL
1. PUMA / 0
2. Ericsson 3 / 4
3. Ericsson 4 / 56
4. Green Dragon / 80
5. Delta Lloyd / 89
6. Team Russia / 93
7. Telefonica Blue / 146
8. Telefonica Black / 155

Read more news at greendragonracing.com

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.