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Pre-race favourite Ericsson 4 holds a strong lead in the overall classification as the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race begins between Galway, Ireland and Sweden.

The seven yachts are expected to take four days to mare the 950-mile trip to the port of Marstrand near Gothenburg, through the English Channel and North Sea, where maritime traffic is intense.

"This is a difficult place to navigate, very different from the ocean", said American team Puma Racing's skipper Ken Read.

"This is back towards the type of sailing that a lot of us grew up doing. Going around corners and tidal gates, plus there's going to be a lot of variable weather."

Puma Racing are third overall with 80 points, one fewer than Spain's Telefonica Blue who are in second place.

Ericsson 4, led by Brazil's Torben Grael, has a 13-point lead overall and with just three legs remaining it looks like it will be difficult to catch them. A stage win is worth eight points.

"Ericsson 4 may be very comfortable now, but there is still an outside chance that they may have a bad one and we have a real good one, so we'll just try to win the leg and we'll see then how Ericsson 4 and PUMA end up," said Telefonica Blue's Dutch skipper Bouw Bekking.

The organisers have announced the addition of two rounding points to the eighth leg of the course which will require each of the yachts complete a six-mile reaching lap about one mile off Hoek van Holland in Rotterdam.

The Volvo race, which began in Alicante, Spain in October, is to conclude in St Petersburg, Russia, in June after negotiating 10 stages over 37,000 nautical miles.

Classification:

1. Ericsson 4 (SWE)/Torben Grael (BRA) 94.0 points

2. Telefonica Blue (ESP)/Bouwe Bekking (NED) 81.0

3. Puma Ocean Racing (USA)/Ken Read (USA) 80.0

4. Ericsson 3 (SWE)/Magnus Olsson (SWE) 62.5

5. Green Dragon (CHN/EIR)/Ian Walker (GBR) 53.0

6. Telefonica Black (ESP)/Fernando Echavarri (ESP) 39.0

7. Delta Lloyd (NED)/Roberto Bermudez (ESP) 31.0

8. Team Russia (RUS)/Andreas Hanakamp (AUT) 10.5 (provisionally withdrawn from the race)

AFP