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Green
Dragon Makes Gains: Green Dragon Press Office
14:17 GMT 18 October 2008. |
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From onboard Green Dragon
and the Volvo Ocean Race
Media Team. |
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Positions
in the fleet have shifted overnight. Whilst PUMA has
slowed the rest of the fleet are playing catch up. Green
Dragon's gamble, sticking to the west, seems to paying
off and they have made big gains (over 40 miles in the
last 12 hours), jumping two spots overnight to take back
4th ahead of Team Russia and Delta Lloyd.
Update from Green Dragon Skipper Ian Walker We are now
coming up to a week at sea and it is passing quickly
thanks to great downwind conditions. It is starting to
get very warm down below making sleeping harder. The
main events today were the numerous attacks of flying
fish one of which hit Andrew and Damian full in the face.
I now see what the helmsman's driving helmets are for!
The other less fortunate event was Neal having to cut
his wedding ring off to save a finger that he bashed.
The swelling was getting pretty big so the hacksaw came
out - sorry Lisa I am sure it can be fixed in Cape Town
and you can make him by you a diamond while he is at
it! Guo is doing some great work with the various cameras
although Justin had to do a bit of editing after recounting
some tales of his youth without realising the camera
was on!
Back in the navigation station Ian is smiling for the
first time since we lost miles at the Canaries, as todays
polling shows that we seem to have done well on the fleet
by hitching out hard West. It is a complex weather situation
and anything could happen at the doldrums. For now at
least, we are back snapping at the heels of the leaders
- we thought for a while it could have been even better
but the wind didn't shift to the right as hoped. As always
spirits are high on the Green Dragon and we are rattling
on South at 20 knots into a nasty head sea and towards
the inevitable meeting with King Neptune at the equator
- I am more worried about this right now than any scheduled
positions.
Ian out. |
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Green Dragon breaks over a wave
after the start of Leg 1 in Alicante, Spain for
The Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The Volvo
Ocean race 2008/09 has seen the introduction of the Media
Crew Member (MCM). The MCM has one of the hardest jobs
onboard, Green Dragon's MCM is Guo Chuan from China,
he will be the reporter on the front line delivering
all of the media content (images and Video) from onboard.
Guo update us on life onboard:
I switch my watch to 2 hours behind to match Volvo Ocean
Race's official time zone – GMT, which is the time guideline
for all communication and reporting onboard. We have
lunch at 11, dinner at 6. While for this leg the time
difference as we head south won't affect out daily routine
too much, the other legs, especially Qingdao – Rio, will
cover several time zones, and as a result our meal times
will need to be adjusted frequently! |
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Green Dragon blasts through
a wave offshore after the start of leg 1 of The
Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.
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After
passing the Straits of Gibraltar and then navigating
the Canary Islands, each team is now heading their own
way. Today we have enjoyed bright sunshine and a strong
northeast wind, which has helped to boost Green Dragon's
speed. The past few days have seemed longer than others,
as we have tried to catch up with leading teams. My day
to day duties continue, as myself and Ian Moore work
on the media station. It takes a huge amount of power
and time (approximately 40 mins) to send just one minute
of high definition footage from onboard. My daily routine
is getting easier, and spirits onboard Green Dragon remain
high. Green Dragon will have some crucial choices to
make in the coming days, as we sail southwards past the
Cape Verde islands and then head west. Although like
Ian I am not looking forward to what King Neptune has
in store for us at the Equator (this will also be my
first crossing, along with Andrew McLean and Freddy Shanks),
I am sure the rest of the crew will have a treat in store
for us!
1200 GMT Current positions/DTL
1. PUMA / 0
2. Ericsson 3 / 4
3. Ericsson 4 / 56
4. Green Dragon / 80
5. Delta Lloyd / 89
6. Team Russia / 93
7. Telefonica Blue / 146
8. Telefonica Black / 155
Read more news at greendragonracing.com
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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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. |
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