Chinese Team Sanya on 3rd, challenging at the Philippine Sea

Camper led the fleet through the Luzon Strait but Telefonica took over shortly after when the New Zealand entry chose to head north and Telefonica south after rounding the southern tip of Taiwan.

Groupama was in third position, taking the middle road between the two leaders.

Light-air conditions meant progress through the Luzon Strait was slow, but speeds have been steadily increasing since the fleet entered the Philippine Sea.

Despite losing the lead, Camper looks to have taken the better path out of the Strait, with the boats taking the northern route travelling considerably faster than those who went south.

As a result, Telefonica’s lead was short lived and they have now dropped back to fifth.

Groupama now lead Camper by just 6.9 nautical miles, with Sanya 25.6 nautical miles off the lead in third.

The crews faced some testing conditions yesterday, with 5m swells making progress through the South China Sea difficult.

It was not only the waves Camper had to deal with, as debris continued to pose a challenge.

On day two the crew narrowly avoided a large unlit buoy and only missed a full-sized pallet by a metre.

Hitting any of this debris could cause significant damage to the boat.