The Big Dry-Out
Begins
Leg 2 Day 8 - 14:48 GMT Saturday, November 22, 2008. |
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| It has been an exciting 24 hours in the Volvo fleet racing towards Cochin, India, in leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race. With 2,239 nm to go to the finish, the lion’s share of this 4,450 nm leg is over. But as the fleet compresses once again, many boats are in sight of each other. |
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Pablo Arrarte & Pepe Ribes taking
Telefonica Blue north, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean
Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Earlier this morning, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED) who is right up in the hunt and fighting it out with the leaders, had Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) on one side and PUMA (Ken Read / USA) on the other.
As the pace of life has slowed, the ‘big dry-out’ has started. It is also a good opportunity to repair everything that needs fixing and dry out all the gear.
"All around the boat you can find bits of clothing hung up as everyone desperately tries to get stuff dried out before we begin reaching once more on starboard," says Simon Fisher, navigator of Telefónica Blue. The air is warm and the night skies are clear and full of stars. |
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Ericsson 3 doing 39 knots in 40 knots
of wind with 6 metre waves, in the Southern Ocean,
on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South
Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"It’s amazing how fast the change from full wet weather gear, fleeces and boots... to only shorts," says Ericsson 3’s MCM Gustav Morin.
The team had a plastic bag caught around the keel this morning, but have become very proficient in backing up the boat and were able to free it quickly.
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Green Dragoin's broken boom has a new
home, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town,
South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The fleet is now aiming on reaching the trade winds as soon as possible and setting up for a good angle into the Doldrums. But after the Doldrums (although the teams are expecting a good westerly breeze), in the final approach to India the wind is likely to drop.
At 13:00 GMT today, it was an all-Ericsson affair with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) in charge of the fleet with Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander / SWE) just three miles astern and to the north. The first five boats are split 40 nm from first to fourth, with a gap of 40 nm to PUMA in fifth. Boat speeds hover around the low teens with 24 hour runs around the 330 mark. |
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Rob Salthouse from New Zealand. The
crew of PUMA Ocean Racing make repairs to their boat
after sustaining serious structural damage in rough
seas, for the second time in 24 hours.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 2 Day 8 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) DTF 2,239 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander / SWE) +3
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +28
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +34
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +40
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) +79
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +88
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) +104
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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