High Pressure
Slows Volvo Fleet
Leg 5 Day 37 - 14:54 GMT Sunday, March 22nd, 2009. |
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| It is an agonising time for Ericsson 3 as Magnus Olsson watches the rest of the fleet catching him as his team fights yet another high-pressure area, which sits between them and the finish of leg five in Rio de Janeiro. |
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Magnus Olsson takes some time out,
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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Over the past 24 hours, second-placed Ericsson 4 has closed the gap to 57 nm, gaining 29 miles. PUMA too has knocked a dent in the deficit and is now just 116 nm behind Ericsson 3, a gain of 89 nm in 24 hours.
These three yachts are now 400 nm of the coast of Uruguay, roughly parallel to Cabo Palinio. |
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Ericsson 4 with their Code Zero up,
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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| Green Dragon is still closer inshore, 210 nm off Mar del Plata in Argentina, which was a stopover in the 1981-82 Whitbread Race. Their inshore move, while looking disastrous yesterday, has gained the team 78 nm, just as navigator Wouter Verbraak hoped it would. |
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Casey Smith repairing a runner, onboard
PUMA Ocean Racing, 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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With just 771 miles still to run for Ericsson 3 before crossing the finish line in Rio and the safe haven of Marina Da Gloria where hot showers, cool beers and famous Brazilian food await, boat speeds are down to under 10 knots and yet the distance is tantalisingly close.
The only boat achieving a reasonable speed is Telefónica Blue, but she still languishes at the tail end of the fleet, some 586 miles behind the leaders. |
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Green Dragon slow as they hit calm
weather, 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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| Current predictions are for a finish for Ericsson 3, provided she can hold off the advances of Ericsson 4, on Wednesday morning, with the other two podium places being decided later in the day. Green Dragon is forecast to finish a day behind, in the afternoon of 26 March, while Telefónica Blue still has just over 1,300 nm still to run. |
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Grinding in light airs, onboard Telefonica
Blue, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao
to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 5 Day 37 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) DTF 771 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +57
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +116
Green Dragon IRL / CHI (Ian Walker / GBR) +335
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +586
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS |
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Media Crew Member Gustav Morin shooting
from the halyard, attached tot he mast, 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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Cape Horn Scoring Gate
(Boat / date / rounding time / gate points)
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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