Over the last 24 hours the eight boats in the Volvo Ocean Race have crashed across the Bay of Biscay and round the lumpy waters off Cape Finistere.

In the middle of all this John Kostecki's illbruck has taken over the lead, from SEB and Bermuda's Tyco.

The boats are still experiencing headwinds but these have lightened, in particular for those on the east side of the course.

Apart from the first few hours of the race, conditions have been far from perfect for the competitors.

Many ran out of wind yesterday and on Monday night and earlier yesterday have experienced a filling-loosening ride pounding into brisk 35 knots south westerly wind.

"There's pretty big waves out there. It's calming down a little near Cape Finisterre. But the waves are pretty big and we had up to 35 knot winds. It's pretty horrendous conditions on these boats," reported Knut Frostad, djuice dragon's skipper.

"It's pretty good for us. We've got some breeze now, heading towards the mark doing very good speed," commented Jez Fanstone from News Corp.

"[Having Spent the last two days drifting around in three to seven knots and now we're on our way."

The blue boat Fanstone co-skippers with Ross Field is currently well to the west of the fleet which could be good if the wind shifts in their favour.

News Corp was recently joined on this side of the course by SEB, which is still trying to play catch up after a flier into the French coast didn't pay off as expected.

"The boys are working really hard, a lot of sail changes, moving gear around the boat. Not much chance to relax," commented Fanstone.

On Amer Sport One, Grant Dalton described the conditions.

"We're on the wind on port tack just off Finistere. We've got a lot of wind, and a confused sea. The boat's pounding quite a lot.

"We can see illbruck just to west of us. That's the only boat we can see.

"You obviously lose some sleep in these conditions."