Krantz makes the most of his lucky break

Gear failure forced a gamble which has paid dividends

After three days of painfully slow progress when Volvo 60 racing machines capable of reeling off nearly 500 miles a day were sluggishly trickling along at less than 100, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet are finally up to racing speed and heading south in the trade-wind belt en route for the doldrums.

But for the group of five boats that had been leading since the start two weeks ago, the pain of the last few days has not been simply about slow progress. While Illbruck, Tyco, Assa Abloy, Amer Sports One and News Corp have been fighting over every few miles gained and lost at each six-hourly interval as they struggle past the western side of the Cape Verde islands, they have seen SEB steam down the eastern side over the last two days and turn a 240-mile deficit into a 20-mile lead. The breeze to the east has propelled SEB's skipper, Gunnar Krantz, from being hopeless underachiever to sudden star performer.

Such a turn of events is not unheard of in sailing, where races – whether they be a few hours in duration or a few months – are turned inside out by the capricious hand of nature. And Marcel van Triest, SEB's navigator, has never been afraid of taking a navigational flyer of the kind that has seen him take SEB well wide of all of the other seven boats in the race. The move could easily have resulted in his boat arriving at the first turning mark of the race – the Isles de Noronha off the north-east corner of Brazil – several days adrift of the entire field.

However, what will be galling for the tactical brains aboard the other seven boats is that this time, it was a fortuitous chain of events that saw Van Triest forced into the radical route that has now paid off so handsomely. Last weekend SEB damaged the equipment which secures the top of the mainsail to the mast. The damage was irreparable and SEB was forced to call into a small island near Madeira last Sunday to collect a replacement. It took SEB off track to the east, from where it was difficult to rejoin the normal route.

And so yesterday, Krantz and his crew were leading leg one to Cape Town as the entire fleet enjoyed fast progress south. The pack was beginning to reel the leader in last night, with previous race leader Illbruck just 12 miles behind and gaining. But as the wind has picked up over the last two days, the fleet has stretched apart, and now more than 60 miles separate SEB in first from Amer Sports One in sixth. Only a week ago the first six boats were sailing almost within sight of each other.

The next phase of this race will be the passage through the doldrums and John Kostecki, the skipper of Illbruck, expects the fleet to compress once again. The first boat out into the south-east trades will open up but, as EF Language proved four years ago, the stage from the equator south and then south-east into Cape Town is likely to offer opportunities.

But what will be beginning to concern the Volvo Ocean Race skippers is the fact that progress has been so slow that a leg that was predicted to take around 30 days, could well take 32 or 33.

Food rationing has already begun and will get more assiduous if the doldrums hold the race up for more than a few hours.