Britain's Silk Cut remains in fourth place in the Whitbread Round the World sailing race despite losing another three nautical miles to Norwegian leaders Innovation Kvaerner.

Lawrie Smith and his crew are now over 142 miles adrift after rounding the island of Fernando de Noronha off the coast of Brazil yesterday and heading south for Ilha da Trindade, some 1,000 miles away.

EF Language has gained 30 miles over the last 24 hours, making the most of upwind sailing conditions on what should be a downwind leg, but remain third overall behind second-placed Merit Cup.

Innovation Kvaerner skipper Knut Frostad was surprised at the wind conditions encountered by the Whitbread fleet on this leg.

He said: "We thought that the idea about adding these two islands to the Whitbread course was to prevent the fleet from having to sail upwind to Cape Town.

"So far, we have had to beat to the first island and it looks like it is going to continue all the way to the next island. Nothing normal this time."