"Mentally And Physically, It’s A Killer"
Leg 3 Day 10 - 17:58 GMT Monday, December 22, 2008. |
 |
Leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race is in its final stages, but which teams will be on the podium today in Singapore is still anyone’s guess. Only 22 nautical miles separate the top four boats, which are due to finish in just one hour’s time.
"A solid three iron is what it would take to whack a golf ball off the mainsail of half the fleet at this stage," says Kenny Read, American skipper of PUMA currently in second place. |
|
First light onboard il mostro, on leg
3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| In a nail-biting finale, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED) leads PUMA by two nautical miles. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander / SWE) and Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) are just three three miles behind. |
|
Onboard Ericsson 3 at sunset, on leg
3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| There is a wider gap to Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) in fifth place, who has 45 miles to run. Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) leads the second field with 102 miles to the finish and the Russians sailing Kosatka are only two miles behind her. |
|
Moving sails from one side to the other
just before tacking. Pepe Ribes, Iker Martinez Jonathan
Swain and Tom Addis.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| "Mentally and physically, this leg has been a killer," said Gabriele Olivo, the MCM onboard Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED), the team who has held and relinquished the lead on almost an hourly basis during the last five days. |
|
Green Dragon stacking sail bags as they
tack, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to
Singapore.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
Gustav Morin (MCM onboard Ericsson 3), is so excited about the prospect of a podium finish that he is getting butterflies in his stomach. Its the same feelings he had when he was a little boy, wondering what he would be receiving for Christmas.
Overnight, there was a skirmish between Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander / SWE) and
Telefónica Blue, which has resulted in Bouwe Bekking filing a protest
against the Swedish team. In this morning’s TEN ZULU, Mark Chisnell details
the comings and goings of the fleet overnight at:
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2008/december/TEN-ZULU-L3-D10/index.aspx. |
|
Mikel Pasabant climbs up to film from
the top of the mast on Telefonica Black, on leg 3 of
the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore.
Photo © Mikel Pasabant / Telefonica Black / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
At the back of the fleet, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) is having a new problem associated with their damaged keel ram. The team can’t keep the hydraulic fluid in the one remaining cylinder that is holding the keel in the centre cant position. This means that the keel slowly creeps to the leeward side. Hydraulic oil is running out of the cylinder and into the bilge.
"It’s a huge mess," says navigator Matt Gregory. "We’ve used all our spare oil. Now we are collecting the oil - watery slurry that ends up in the bilge, putting it in buckets, letting it settle, skimming off the oil from the water and pouring it back into the hydraulic pump." |
|
The day after the keel structure
broke. Ed van Lierde is steering the boat with 11
knots upwind to Sumatra, still in the race.Sailing
J4 and reef in the main. Steering Gerd-Jan Poortman,
next in the sun Ed van Lierde, Martin Watts, Ryan
Houston and Matt Gregory.
Photo © Sander Pluijm / Team Delta Lloyd / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
Leg 3 Day 10 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) DTF 19 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +2
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander / SWE) +3
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +26
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +26
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +83
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) +85
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) +187
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
|
