VOLVO OCEAN DIARY: Week 22 Leg Five Qingdao to RioAT LAST we're making headway towards Cape Horn and have finally crossed the halfway mark on this leg to Rio.

It’s been mentally challenging on board Green Dragon over the last few days as we were forced to go backwards as we tried to get over the top of a ridge of high pressure and straight through an area of low pressure.

To get to the scoring gate from Fiji the quickest route was towards New Zealand. We crossed in fifth place just behind Telefonica Blue. We just sailed under the wrong cloud at the wrong time and that was the difference between fourth and fifth. It was disappointing points-wise but good in terms of staying in touch of the fleet, as we were all within 80 miles of each other after 6,000 miles of sailing.

It was here Ericsson 3 made a brave move – a quick tack, almost back-tracking. They headed towards the north east to get around the top of the high pressure area which the rest of the fleet was trying to get below.

The problem was that the high pressure had formed directly over the ice gate that we have to pass through under the rules and had blocked our route. As we received each weather update it became evident the passage south of the high was becoming impossible, so six-10 hours later the entire fleet had to follow Ericsson 3. By this time it was too late. Ericsson 3 had launched and their move had paid off. They are some 100 miles ahead of the next competitor.

We crossed the halfway mark on Sunday, with still over 6,500 miles to go. We’re now blasting downwind again, sitting on 20 to 24 knots of boat speed in similar wind strength, chewing up the miles. We recorded the highest 24-hour run of any boat this leg, covering 486 nautical miles.

The organisers have put in place two ice gates, to try to steer us away from icebergs. The first gate is a line of latitude south east of New Zealand and the second is 1,500 miles west of Chile. These are to safeguard us against two masses of ice which broke off Antarctica about two years ago. They are both about 60 miles long. The race rules state we have to be north of the lines of latitude at some point.

Although there are higher winds further down south, it’s clearly not in any of our interests to sail among the icebergs. I have first-hand experience of that. During the 2001-2002 race there were no such precautions put in place and the fleet found itself surrounded – it was like playing Russian roulette.

Some are huge, but the smaller ones are still deadly and they are almost impossible to spot, especially at night. On board News Corp we had crew on the bow acting as spotters. When you see an iceberg, the chances are there are smaller masses of ice that have broken off just underneath the surface – called “growlers”. These can sink a yacht and we hit one. The boat came to a shuddering halt, throwing guys everywhere. Luckily we had only damaged our rudder.

The guys are in good form despite the continuous onslaught from the waves crashing over the deck as we sailed upwind for the past few days. We spent most of Saturday night underwater in a flurry of sail changes. It came as quite a relief when the wind changed course and we could get going in the right direction again! It was really sad to pass New Zealand without pulling in for at least a pit-stop. I was driving Green Dragon as we sailed by.

The fleet has spread out again and the yachts are some 200 miles apart. However, our router shows us all reaching the second ice gate within six hours of each other. Ericsson 3 still maintain a commanding position and could easily jump a weather system ahead if they’re lucky and that would put them days ahead.

We also had a birthday on board. Damian (Foxall) hit the big 40. At least that guarantees a celebration in Rio.