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The Waiting Game
Leg 1 Day 17 - 15:05 GMT October 27th, 2008. |
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From the Volvo
Ocean Race Media Team. |
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It's a nail-biting
time for the fleet racing in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race
as it plays the waiting game. Waiting, that is, for the anticipated
40 knot gale that will propel them at record-breaking speeds
towards Cape Town and the finish of this 6,500 nautical mile
leg.
Speeds are beginning to edge up as the fleet curves around the South
Atlantic High. Tempting though it seems, to cut the corner and sail less
miles to Cape Town, sailing too close to the light airs in the centre
of the high is not worth the risk. |
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PUMA Ocean Racing passes through the
scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, on leg 1 of the
Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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At the top
of the fleet, the leading pack of four are still locked together
in battle, with no intention of backing off, and every intention
of arriving in Cape Town first and breaking the tie that is
shared among the top five boats. Green Dragon (Ian Walker /
GBR) is the furthest south, with PUMA (Ken Read / USA) and
Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) 31 nautical miles to the east
of her. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri
/ ESP) is sandwiched in the middle.
The east / west split of the fleet effects the overall position chart
as the boats furthest east are nearer the finish. The true picture won't
be seen until the fleet fully completes its sweep east and is on course
for the finish. |
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A sail change aboard Ericsson 3 during
Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"We have
been having some interesting skirmishes with PUMA throughout
this race, and again we find ourselves within four miles of
each other, with them in the ascendancy," explains Jules
Salter, navigator of Ericsson 4.
"The pursuers, which range from Green Dragon in the south to Telefónica
Blue in the north, all have better wind than us right now. The Irish have probably
got themselves into the best position leverage-wise for a move to the front of
the pack, we shall see," he says.
In the second division of the fleet, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking
/ NED) leads a group of one, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander / SWE), and
is in the uneasy position of being slightly to the east and nearer the
centre of the high, 46 nm east of Green Dragon.
"Last night we had to sail the unfavoured gybe several times, as we were
getting to close to the ridge of high pressure," wrote skipper Bouwe Bekking,
who had to point away from Cape Town to stay in the breeze.
"It is impossible to describe what the feeling inside is, for myself or
SiFi, our navigator. It just hurts badly," he said. Fisher is looking at
the clouds and watching the barometer for any signs of the wind dropping. "Perhaps
I am just being paranoid after our rather unfortunate run through the Doldrums.
Personally, I'd rather call it cautious," he said. |
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Teamwork on Telefonica Blue with Bowman
/ Trimmer / Driver Pepe Ribes and Trimmer / Driver
Xabi Fernandez performing boat maintenance.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Equipo Telefonica Blue.
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The crew of
Ericsson 3 is largely made up from sailors who have not competed
in this race before. "We will just do it our way and see
how good that is. I am sure some of the more experienced teams
will push hard, but we will set our own pace. But we will give
it our best," said navigator Aksel Magdahl.
Kosatka, Team's Russia's blue boat, is 72 miles west of Delta Lloyd (Ger
O'Rourke) and navigator Wouter Verbraak reported this morning that they
were in 20 knots of breeze from the north - about five knots more than
the rest of the fleet. Consequently Kosatka (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT)
has averaged 19.8 knots, the highest average boat speed during the last
hour. She also claims the highest 24-hour run of 364 nm. Delta Lloyd
continues to follow in the footsteps of Ericsson 4.
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Ben Costello mends a sail onboard
Team Russia, during calm conditions earlier on leg
1 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Mark Covell / Team Russia / Volvo Ocean Race.
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With boats
and rigs thoroughly checked over and nothing left to chance,
all that is left to do is wait until the wind finally arrives,
which, says, Simon Fisher "ironically, seems to be the
hardest bit of all."
Leg One Day 17: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race
Positions
(boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to leader)
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) DTF 2699
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +5
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker /G BR) +27
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +33
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +48
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander / SWE) +75
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke / IRL) +128
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) +218
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th
running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain,
on 4 October 2008 with in-port racing, it will, for the first
time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before
finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the
history of the race.
Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping
at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete,
the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier
yacht race for professional racing crews. |
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The official website: www.volvooceanrace.org |
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