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| Leg 5: |
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| Click onto the Leg 5 icon above the see the entire route of the Volvo Ocean Race. |
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Leg 4:
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Leg 3:
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Leg 2:
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| VOR Racing Team Links |
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| Ericsson Racing Teams 3 and 4 |
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| Green Dragon Racing Team |
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| Puma Ocean Racing |
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Team Delta Lloyd
(Not in English) |
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| Team Russia |
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Telefónica Black
Not in English) |
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Telefónica Blue
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| Contributors to outimage.net |
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| David Clifford |
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| Michael McCoy |
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| Peter Andrews |
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| Nishess Shakya |
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| David Lawson |
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| Recent yachting and boating events covered by Outimage Publications |
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| The 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race |
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| The 2008 SOLAS Big Boat Challenge 2008. |
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| The 2008 Rolex Trophy One Design Series |
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Sydney Short Ocean
Racing Championship
November 29-30, 2008. |
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Rolex Middle Sea Race 2008 Valletta, Malta.
October 18 - 25, 2008. |
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Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup
Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy
September 1 - 6, 2008. |
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| Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race 2008. |
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Giraglia Rolex Cup 2008
Saint-Tropez France
Genova Italy
June 8 - 14, 2008. |
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Rolex Farr 40 Worlds 2008
Miami Beach, Florida |
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| Grand Banks Rendevzous, Hawkesbury River NSW Australia 2008. |
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The Pack
Splits
Leg 5 Day 15 - 14:46 GMT Saturday, February 28, 2009. |
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| The two islands
of Fiji have split the pack of five as they race in leg five
of the Volvo Ocean Race towards Rio de Janeiro. Telefónica
Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED) and PUMA (Ken Read / USA) opted
to dodge reefs and atolls and sail between the Fiji’s
two islands, while the rest of the fleet went to the east. |
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PUMA Ocean Racing sailing off the
North Coast of Viti Levu, Fiji, as they take the
lead on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Musket Cove* Fiji / www.musketcovefiji.com.
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| Luckily for
PUMA and Telefónica Blue, the job was completed during
daylight hours, which made avoiding uncharted hazards less
of a problem. It also gave the two crews the chance to plan
their next family holidays to these exotic islands. However,
it did involve constant tacking and stacking, almost hourly,
which was time consuming and costly. |
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Quite a bit of tacking and stacking
involved to pass between the Fiji Islands. Jono
Swan and Iker Martinez here shifting the gear.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"Going
through the middle did not look ideal by any means, but it
was the only option we could see that didn’t involve
realising a certain major loss," said Tom Addis, Telefónica
Blue’s navigator earlier this morning.
"Lighter breeze, breeze blowing up the narrow channels,
rather than across, and the increased amount of manoeuvring through
the reefs were all downsides, but there was a glimmer of hope
in the form of reduced distance to sail," he explained. |
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Iker Martinez and Bouwe Bekking
taking a look at Fiji.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The glimmer
was made even brighter when PUMA decided to join Telefónica
Blue on their island-hopping spree, which made the team on
the blue boat less vulnerable about being out on an edge
on their own.
The teams now wait anxiously to see the outcome of their
decision, measured against the progress of rest of the
fleet. PUMA has a lateral separation of precisely 100 nm
from Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) in the east, and is
1,088 from the northeast tip of New Zealand. |
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One of the small islands off Fiji,
as seen from onboard Ericsson 4, on leg 5 of the
Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Ericsson 3 (Magus
Olsson / SWE) and Ericsson 4 finally decided on the eastern
option, along with Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) who had
committed to the east a week out.
Today at 13:00 GMT, PUMA leads from Ericsson 4, 16 nm behind.
Telefónica Blue is in third place with Ericsson
3 just 10 miles astern on the distance to leader board.
Average boatspeed for the last three hours puts Ericsson
3 at the top of the chart with 15.8 knots, while Telefónica
Blue is only able to achieve 11. Even her nearest rival,
PUMA, is able to average 13.5 knots, while the Dragons
are trucking along at around 14.3. |
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Sail changes onboard Ericsson 3,
on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao
to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Matthew Sanders,
meteorologist for the race, looks at the weather around Fiji
and gives a long-range forecast.
"The fleet is provided with weather models four times per
day, but, lately, few model cycles have shown the same solution
and this is what caused the major quandary of whether to go east
or west of Fiji," he says.
Sanders explains that one solution argued for a path west
of Fiji into a lane of fresh northerly wind from Vanuatu
to the scoring gate, caused by low pressure strengthening
near New Zealand. The other predominant solution was to
head east into lighter but possibly steadier easterlies.
The pack is now split with three boats to the east and
two to the west. |
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One of the small islands off Fiji,
as seen from onboard Green Dragon, on leg 5 of
the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"Going
forward," says Sanders, "Everyone will continue
to face inconsistent wind conditions despite their route
around Fiji."
He predicts several days of slow headway, which means that
the favourable winds associated with the strong low pressure
near New Zealand, are likely pass south of everyone. Instead,
several days of wind near 10 knots or less is expected.
Occasionally, the wind speeds may build to the mid teens,
but a prolonged period of stronger wind is not anticipated. |
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Skipper Ken Read helming PUMA Ocean
Racing past Viti Levu, Fiji, on leg 5 of the Volvo
Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Sanders also
says that those further east will tend to sail closer to
the wind, but wider wind angles are expected for those further
west. The longer-term forecast provides the feet with an
opportunity to encounter stronger winds as they approach
the scoring gate at 36 degrees south.
A centre of high pressure is forecast to track east of
New Zealand, while low pressure forms southeast of New
Caledonia. This generates fresh wind as the fleet approaches
the scoring gate. But the situation could also provide
some challenges since the breeze could veer for a time
directly into the path of the fleet.
These upcoming conditions certainly mean few, if any, will
relish the navigator’s job. |
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Skipper Torben Grael looks out
at Fiji, onboard Ericsson 4 under a fantastic
South Pacific sky, during leg 5 of the Volvo
Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg
5 Day 15 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) DTF 8,171 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +16
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +26
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +36
Green Dragon IRL / CHI (Ian Walker / GBR) +55
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bérmudez / ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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| *Disclosure: The editor,
Peter Andrews, has been a life member of the Musket Cove
Yacht Club, Malolo Lailai, Fiji, since June 23, 1990. Qualification
for life membership is to sail from a foreign port to Musket
Cove, Malolo Island, Fiji. Peter sailed on the 18th century
replica of the Bounty (the ship used in the Mel Gibson version
of the movie about the Muntiny on the Bounty), from Norfolk
Island, Australia. |
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| Team Russia suspends operations in Singapore |
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| As Team Russia has suspending its operations after arriving in Singapore, it hasn’t ruled out returning to the race at a later date should sponsorship be found. The team remains unique in the eight boat fleet in not having any naming or title sponsorship. For anyone interested in helping out Team Russia with sponsorship so they can continue to race, more information can be found on their website at: http://www.teamrussia.org/en/partners/view/become_a_team_sponsor/ |
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| Previous Leg 5 Articles. |
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| Decision time for Volvo fleet - Leg 5 Week 2 - 15:55 GMT Friday, February 27, 2009. |
| Weather & wind angles force tactical decisions - Leg 5 Day 14 - 14:52 GMT Fri, Feb 27, 2009. |
| Out of the squall zone - Leg 5 Day 13 - 14:56 GMT Thursday, February 26, 2009. |
| Violent squalls bring big gains and losses - leg 5 Day 12 - 14:55 GMT Wed, Feb 25, 2009. |
| Stalking or overtaking - Leg 5 Day 11 - 15:14 GMT Tuesday, February 24, 2009. |
| Racing through paradise to the Southern Hemisphere - 14:59 GMT Mon, Feb 23, 2009. |
| Doldrums compression gives hope to back markers - 14:45 GMT Sunday, February 22, 2009. |
| Fast Boats From China - Leg 5 Week 1 - 16:02 GMT Saturday, February 21, 2009. |
| 10,000 mile count down - Leg 5 Day 8 - 15:05 GMT Saturday, February 21, 2009. |
| Telefónica Blue makes move as Green Dragon gambles - 15:10 GMT Friday, Feb 20, 2009. |
| Wet, Hot and Manky - Leg 5 Day 6 - 14:25 GMT Thursday, February 19, 2009. |
| A Flat Out Drag Race - Leg 5 Day 5 - 14:59 GMT Wednesday, February 18, 2009. |
| Grinding Down The Opposition - Leg 5 Day 4 - 14:54 GMT Tuesday, February 17, 2009. |
| High-speed ‘Flying’ into the Pacific - Leg 5 Day 3: 16:20 GMT Monday, February 16, 2009. |
| Speed Is King as Temperatures Plummet - Leg 5 Day 2 - 14:51 GMT Sun, Feb 15, 2009. |
| Telefónica Blue Returns to the Race Course - Leg 5 Day 1 - 23:42 GMT Sat, Feb 14, 2009. |
| Ericsson 3 Scores Points, Re-Stocks in Qingdao, Starts Leg 5 - 10:00 GMT Sat, Feb 14, 2009. |
| Puma Leads, Telefónica Blue Suspends Racing, Start of Leg 5 - 07:57 GMT Sat, Feb 14, 2009. |
| The Longest Leg in History - 11:00 GMT Friday, February 13, 2009. |
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| Scuttlebutt Europe Daily News Feed. |
| Produced by boats.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinion, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors. |
| To the Scuttlebutt Europe Daily News Feed Page. |
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