Swedish Match forged a narrow lead over second-placed Toshiba as the two yachts battled for position at the front of the Whitbread Round the World Race yesterday.

The Swedish entrant, skippered by Gunnar Krantz and Erle Williams, is only 0.7 miles ahead of the American yacht as the fleet head for Auckland from Sydney in the fourth leg.

Behind them, Brunel-Sunergy, Innovation Kvaerner and Lawrie Smith's Silk Cut have altered course sharply, and are now heading north towards Cape Reinga.

Paul Cayard's EF Language is still languishing in eighth position after paying the price for going too far south in the hope that the wind would fill from the south west.

Cayard is now also heading north, but despite losing time and places, his yacht is still 25 miles ahead of last-placed EF Education, skippered by Christine Guillou.

Conditions were tough. "This is really nasty stuff," said Dennis Conner, skipper of Toshiba. "The wind is still clocking (veering) and is blowing between 25 and 32 knots. We changed to our fractional spinnaker some time ago and are now using a jib-top (reaching headsail) with a reef in the main (sail)."

While the crew was making the sail change, one of them was washed through the lifelines and only held on board by his safety harness. "It is conditions like this that makes me think about taking care of the crew and boat even more than usual; it is a huge responsibility which I do not take lightly," Conner said.

He added that the wind was continuing to veer and that another sail-change was about to take place. "The sail changes are a tremendous amount of work and the crew is doing a great job, I wonder where they get all their energy."

Conner is limiting his efforts on board Toshiba to steering which he does extremely well. He does, however, have a sneaking admiration for the crew of Swedish Match. "I can appreciate much more vividly why they placed so well on the last two legs as they are really sailing well."

The fleet are now approaching Cape Reinga on the northern tip of New Zealand, but even the leaders are wary of the notoriously changeable weather in the Tasman Sea.

"This leg is becoming a navigator's nightmare because these guys also have the unenviable task of predicting the weather," Conner reported. "Remember my last message about the upcoming weather being only a forecast?

"Well, as luck would have it, the southerly breeze that was forecast turned out to be north-easterly." By the end of today, New Zealand's North Cape should be in sight and the race down the east coast to Auckland about to begin.