Drone shots of Scallywag sailing upwind wih TTToP a half mile away. Parko, below: We've basically been match racing with them since the start of this leg, and the position between us has changed a half dozen times now. I don't think anyone's going to change to a smaller sail, and after a couple of hours the breeze should lighten up a bit. Crew working in the cockpit in rougher conditions. Annemieke and Seng Huang Lee on the pedestal. Parko, below: Going through the moding, and you have to laugh sometimes; all the sails are flapping and you're still going 20 knots... Last chance to drive these boats hard before the Hague, in this edition. Slomo washing machine. Parko: It's always amazing toward the end of these campaigns. Amazing events, getting to compete against the best in the business. I think we're going to be close to them the rest of the way; I wouldn't be surprised if our position changes again before the finish. Drone shot.Xabi, on the bow, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: Tricky night, quite busy, sailing upwind in 12-16 knots with the J1. A few tacks, some big shifts with clouds. Ended up positioning themselves as the most north of the fleet. Pretty happy where they are. But still have to pass a small high pressure ridge. First one going out is going to stretch a lot. Hopefully the investment we've made in the northwest will work out. Have to see what happens. Neti, lying on the bow, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: Whole fleet is in a line. Waiting for the wind from the southwest. We are very nervous, as you can see. Xabi in the cockpit. Blair. Talking about Dongfeng. AkzoNobel three-quarters of a mile away. Joan in the cockpit. Crew lying down on the foredeck. Tamara resting. Joan sleeping. Crew sleeping in the bow.Sailing upwind. AkzoNobel and MAPFRE on their starboard quarter. Carolijn in the morning: After a few hours of darkness it has now gotten light. MAPFRE and Akzo above them; Vestas, Brunel and TTToP below. At the moment it looks like those to leeward will get to the ridge first. And whoever gets through the ridge first is in a good position. So we'll have to battle it out today. An important day today.Sailing upwind in light conditions with MAPFRE, AkzoNobel, and Vestas on their starboard quarter. Stacking in the evening twighlight. Scallywag to leeward. Annalise points out the other boats around them. Dee on the bow: We're kind of like the home team, a lot of people came down to visit, so a busy stopover. Really nice to leave with that kind of energy. Leg is complex. Lots of corners, lots of tidal gates. Pretty busy job for the navigator. Brian at the nav station talks about the course. Brian: Biggest challenge is all the land effects. The weather models are accurate in the oceans, but with land heating up and cooling down it's a little unpredictable. Looking where the fleet is going, where the wind is, where the tide is. Martin on the helm with MAPFRE behind them. Lucas looks at them throgh binoculars. Dee: Still want to be as competitive as possible. Haven't had a good result. Think we deserve it. Have been chipping away at Scallwag. Want to not be at the bottom of the leaderboard by The Hague.Slomo foredeck action beating out from Auckland. Slomo grinding. Slomo sunset, headland. Witty, below: Had a bad start, so pushed really hard to catch up. Haven't had any sleep, really. Slomo shot of land. Witty: We can see everyone. At the top of the Bay of Plenty. Drone shot circling Scallywag as they sail upwind. Ben, below: Upwind for almost 24 hours. No one's had much sleep. Get right into it, huh? Ben stacking below. Like the Cape Town start. He talks about Tom, the new crewmember: Tommy's great. Unreal. New bit of fresh energy for the team. Tom: A bit of a baptism of fire. Nine years since I did the last race. Not as fit and agile as I used to be. Shot of him moving he stack on deck. Drone shot of Scallywag pounding to weather. Tom, below: Balance between not dropping off the pack, yet not busting the boat. High drone shot with East Cape (I think?) in the background. Favoriting mostly for the first drone footage of the leg, flying the drone in stronger wind.Slomo foredeck action beating out from Auckland. Slomo grinding. Slomo sunset, headland. Witty, below: Had a bad start, so pushed really hard to catch up. Haven't had any sleep, really. Slomo shot of land. Witty: We can see everyone. At the top of the Bay of Plenty. Drone shot circling Scallywag as they sail upwind. Ben, below: Upwind for almost 24 hours. No one's had much sleep. Get right into it, huh? Ben stacking below. Like the Cape Town start. He talks about Tom, the new crewmember: Tommy's great. Unreal. New bit of fresh energy for the team. Tom: A bit of a baptism of fire. Nine years since I did the last race. Not as fit and agile as I used to be. Shot of him moving he stack on deck. Drone shot of Scallywag pounding to weather. Tom, below: Balance between not dropping off the pack, yet not busting the boat. High drone shot with East Cape (I think?) in the background. Favoriting mostly for the first drone footage of the leg, flying the drone in stronger wind.Drone shot of Scallywag sailing upwind under the J1 on port tack with an island in the bakcground. Witty on the helm. "I like to be in front, everyone likes to be in front, everyone likes a winner. Long way to go, though." Witty reminisces about racing in the good old days; not with this freeze-dried food. Cocktails. Drone shots. Doubleheading in strong wind. Washing machine. Trystan grinding. Alex on the helm. Slomo of Trystan (I think?) spraying water on his face. Water in the cockpit. Fish getting drenched in the pit. Annemieke wearing ski goggles while trimming. Marcus (maybe?) grinding in slomo. High drone shot looking down.Least-favorite thing about the leg: Carlo: going upwind. Kyle: The upwind start, going upwind in 40 knots. Alberto: The humidity downstairs. Bouwe: The rain. Alberto: The rain in the first days. Sally: The beginning of the leg. It was horrible. Rough, a little seasick. Enjoyed the most? Bouwe: When the northerly wind came in and we were sailing at 26 knots in flat water. Kyle: Being with the leaders. Louis: Being competitive. Sally: Racing against the other boats, quite close. Peter: The transition we went through with all four of the leading boats right next to each other. Alberto: I like days like this. Sunny days, nice, warm. Carlo: Sailing to Auckland. Alberto and Carlo below.Slomo of AkzoNobel sailing upwind, close-hauled on port tack. Nicolai, below, talks about the remaining leg for them. Nicho, at the helm: "Learned the same lessons I think I've been taught before: never to be complacent. I don't think we were complacent, but we had one terrible gybe which I'm more responsible for than anyone, and that cost us the leg. And the usual story, that you make that mistake in the middle of nowhere, and you can pay for it for a long time. So that's what we did this leg." Martine, on deck: "What I've learned on this spedific leg? Probably a lot of patience. And try to find joy, and happiness, in little things every day... Sometimes a bird, or whale-watching, has made my day, a funny joke; anything. Always try to find the thing that makes you happy." Brad sleeping on the foredeck in bare feet. Nicolai, below: "I think this leg's been quite a challenge for many of us. Not so much a normal Volvo leg, physically a challenge, but more mentally and team-wise, it's been a tough one. But it's also been one that we probably needed to have to keep getting better and better, and hopefully learn from it, all of us, and become a stronger team. And I think we are handling quite well the headwinds we have, no issues within the team, it's all head down and keep working whatever we find ourself in and that's quite positive and quite good." Slomo of someone's hands on the wheel.