Annalise points out the west Cork coastline. Apart from Brazil, this is the closest they've done to sailing along the coast of a country. Bianca: But what country is that? Annalise: Ireland! Fishing boats, land, islands. Vestas behind them. Frederico, forward: We passed Fastnet a few hours ago. He points out other boats. All very close, very nice, every puff makes a difference. Vestas passes them to weather with Fastnet Rock in the background. AkzoNobel a boatlength behind them. Brian: It's unexpected, but we are with all the other boats. We've been looking at them, judging what the wind is. I think we've managed to make some gains today. We're a lot closer to Dongfeng than we were a few hours ago. Getting the waves from the northerly breeze. That northerly is going to kick in sometime tonight. So a transition for that. Fascinating day so far, and more to come tonight.TTToP sails a quarter mile above them and abeam. Mark talks about it from the helm. TJ on the helm. Tony: I've been around Fastnet Rock at least 10 times, and around Ireland twice already. When it's nice around here it's really nice. Pretty mild day for Ireland. Once we get to the top of Scotland we're gonna get our ass kicked again. One last time in the Volvo. I can see soem sun over there on the land. Charlie in the slot rubs his eyes. MAPFRE to starboard. A bird flying (a gannet?). TTToP and two other competitors to leeward. Stacey trimming. Sailing along astern of TTToP. Mark: Here we are in the second to last leg in the Volvo. Talks about Fastnet Rock. Just about a year ago we did the Fastnet Race... Toward the back of the fleet... Dongfeng in the lead but they're only a few miles ahead of us. More opportunities to pass. SiFi in the cockpit laughs about it being cold yesterday. A fishing boat. Ireland in the gloaming. A group of alcids on the water. Flopping conditions with two competitors. Nick: Brunel seems like they're going all right. Fastnet Rock.Capey at the nav station. He comes on deck, reports on the competition to Peter. Sam: What's the concern, Pete? Peter: Capey's our navigator. He's very experienced. It was his tenth time around the Horn. Does an incredible job on the charts, keeping us safe. (Capey pees off the transom in the background, then moves gingerly around with an obviously painful back issue.) Peter tries to engage him in the story; Capey's not having any of it. Just talks about the race. Bouwe: I think he's one of the best in the world. And we just have that mutual understanding. It's straightforward. You have a plan, and you execute the plan. I think that's why I like to sail with him. Abby comes up and does a Capey impression. "It's that itme of day and I'm coming through." She goes to the stern to mime pooping. A funky yellow fishing boat comes by: Drone shots from close aboard as they haul pots. Carlo: I had wet boots in the Southern Ocean, and this nail, for some reason, is starting to fall off. He shows his left big toe, which looks kind of scary and discolored. Carlo: Capey says we're driving in about two hours. Have Akzo to windward. Need to put a second sheet on the masthead zero. We see from the drone as Nina puts the sheet on. Bouwe talks about a big cloud, and how it affects the wind. He explains that they'll probably gain some on Akzo due to the cloud. "Very often the luck of the draw is involved in it." Drone shot of hte stern, bow, and barbecue on the aft deck of a big container ship: "Shanghai Highway". Crew of the ship waves and jumps up and down. Kyle, in the sunset: Had a lovely day today. Sam had the drone over a container ship where they were having a lovely barbecue. Nina: I feel like Kyle has his Saturday best on. "It's a good day for Kyle; maybe not for us." Beautiful sunset clouds, slomo with moon.Drone shots of sunrise (?) with islands in the distance. A competitor is 3 miles ahead of them. High drone shot of islands. Blair: Awesome seeing the Three Kings in the morning. Pretty surreal sailing down the coast now. Flyby by a helicopter, a fishing boat. A plane flies overhead doing acrobatics. A boat comes alongside. Another boat comes alongside with MAPFRE flags flying. Xabi: So hard to overtake Dongfeng. Pablo: Only 150 miles to go; we have them less than a mile in front. Xabi: Catching them a little bit. New Zealand flag on the backstay. Sophie going aloft. Dongfeng to leeward. Blair spots TTToP through the binoculars. Willy talks about compression being expected. Chance to pass them, but it's remote. Joan: Seeing the race leaders in front. Light air for a bit. Just saw AkzoNobel was winning the race; on the AIS only 7 miles. Willy: Last 100 miles you're all on deck. Xabi looks through binoculars. Xabi trimming. Rob on the helm. Alongside Dongfeng a few boatlengths away. Dongfeng astern. Other boats ahead of them and inside. Dongfeng close behind in the sunset. Sophie rigging the J2 for hoisting. Triple heading. Dongfeng close behind them. Sophie: This was our first good opportunity to get past them. Have had 80% of the race at the back of the fleet. The vibe on the boat hasn't been good. Being back up now, gaining these miles, and can see Akzo over there; it's really exciting. Not giving up, fighting to the end.Three kings. Peter talks about it. Good to see the first bit of New Zealand. Kyle, lying near him on deck, says something; Peter responds, "Don't be like that." A fishing boat cruises alongside, its crew waving and shouting. Peter: "We're here. New Zealand." Northeast Cape. "It's good to finally be able to see it." Pretty awesome part of the world to be sailing into. Weather's not always this nice up here. Beautiful day; a few hours of sailing down the coast in daylight.Distant drone shot of AkzoNobel. Drone shot of the cockpit from overhead. Shot of the crew in the cockpit. Simeon, below, sys they're 3 days from Hong Kong, a little less breeze than they wanted. A couple of gybes in the last 48 hours to seek some more pressure to the south, which was unfortunate because they'd committed to the north earlier. Trying to defend against MAPFRE. Drone flyby of an interesting-looking motor vessel, painted white and about 100' long; numbers "BJ4979" painted on the side. It's a tuna longliner; see As the drone passes it we see AkzoNobel in the background. In the cockpit, Brad and Nicolai talk. Brad: "What's your favorite movie quote?" Nicolai: "Favorite movie quote?" He thinks. Brad: "I think I know what it is... Yours would be: 'I'm not a smart man. But I know what love is." [Forrest Gump.] Nicolai: "That's a good one." Another drone shot of the fishing boat, showing the crew working in the area forward of the cabin. Brad: "'Are you not entertained?'" [Gladiator.]Amazing high-altitude drone shot showing AkzoNobel far below and a number of islands, clouds, and I think a rainbow in the distance. Pretty sure that's Ghupuna closest to them. Jules explains that they're at the east end of the Solomons. In third place. "Still a long way to go." Drone shot with island behind them. Nicolai: "Solomon Islands. Beautiful place. One of those places you don't get to go often that you probably never will come back to." Shot of whale surfacing on their starboard quarter. More islands. Drone shot of purse seiner ("Southern Seas No. 302 SI-LV110") fishing as they pass in the background. Drone records them pulling in what looks like a struggling blue shark. Detail of the fishing boat's mast, with multiple crow's nests with what look like spotting scopes mounted on them.Joan talks in Spanish about the Solomons, wind, squalls, complicated strategy, Dongfeng ahead, and the other boats behind them. Xabi talks about how they've been in this situation before, lead by Dongfeng through much of the leg. "Now we've gained as much as possible, and wait for our opportunity." Talks about the doldrums coming up. Night shot of distant lightning silhouetting the helmsman. In the day, Xabi in the pit. Shot of Dongfeng ahead of them and to port with an island below them. Stacking. Green island to leeward. Pablo grinds with an island below them. Stacking forward. Shot astern with a whale surfacing; then slomo of the whale surfacing. AkzoNobel behind them. Dongfeng ahead and to weather. Light winds. AkzoNobel close behind them. Willy looking through binoculars. Drone shot of a fishing boat with a purse seine and MAPFRE in the background. Circling drone shot of MAPFRE with Dongfeng visible in 3 miles away, ahead and to weather.