Pressure on,
breeze down
Leg 5 Day 27 - 16:05 GMT Thursday, March 12, 2009. |
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| As the front-runners pass through the second ice gate from the north and head south into dangerous waters and lighter winds, the leading boat Ericsson 3 is losing miles to its rivals. Ericsson 4 and PUMA are compressing behind the Nordic boat, as they navigate their way through the latest high pressure to slow their progress to Cape Horn. |
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Flat water sailing in the Southern
Ocean, 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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| Media Crew Member Gustav Morin, explained the pressure the crew is under to keep one step ahead. "We are working our guts out not to lose the lead we have been working so hard to get. Our navigator’s choice to go north and catch on to a low pressure after the first scoring-gate paid off and today we passed the ice-gate a couple of hours before the second and third boat. Unfortunately, being first to this gate does not give us any points and from here to the scoring-gate at Cape Horn it seems to be a bit of a restart." |
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Magnus Woxen and Martin Stromberg changing
sails 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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| "We wished we would be able to hang on to the low a bit longer and catch a weather system the others would not be able to reach. Being in another system is probably the only way to get a secure lead, if you are in the same system you can quickly loose a couple of hundred miles. Depressing for the one in the lead but fun and exciting for the ones following the race and a hint of hope for the ones trying to make gains from the back of the fleet. Unfortunately, we dropped out of the low and lost a lot of pace so the others have been able to make depressingly big gains on us." |
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PUMA Ocean Racing, hit rough weather
in the Southern Ocean, 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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Ericsson 3 has lost 143 nm to the sistership Ericsson 4 in the past 24 hours as she creeps up in second place, with PUMA also losing five nm to the international crew.
Horacio Carabelli, (trimmer) onboard Ericsson 4, told today of the tactical decisions, which face the teams as they choose a route south. But for the moment, they seem happy to follow the track of the leader. |
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Dave Endean gets hit by huge waves,
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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"We passed the second ice gate so another milestone done for us and now we are free to go where we want to the Horn," said carabelli.
"The gamblers seem to be having some new chances as weather is not clearly
defined until the famous Cape and several routes can be put into play now. Jules
(Jules Salter - navigator) and Torben (Torben Grael - skipper) are scratching
their heads as new opportunities arise for us. The Buzios (small stones used
to guess the future in Brazil) have been thrown; let’s see what ends up
in our hands for the next hours, days, weeks." |
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Joao Signorini grinding as a wave hits
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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| After Green Dragon’s sighting of ice yesterday, the whole fleet will be keeping all eyes open for the dangerous icebergs. At least for the moment though, Green Dragon can relax slightly as it heads to the ice gate to the north-east and away from the growlers to the south of the fleet. Telefónica Blue is also making its way east to the gate but is still negotiating the light winds in her path. |
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Green Dragon crew hard at work in the
Southern Ocean, 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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Telefónica Blue’s helmsman / strategist Simon Fisher summed up perfectly the feeling onboard the Spanish boat, as they struggle to keep up with the fleet.
"We had another slow night last night as we battle with this ridge of high pressure which is now separating us from the rest of the fleet and ruining our chances of catching up. However, we are all working hard to stay positive and keep ourselves entertained." |
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Telefonica Blue approaching the Southern
Ocean, earlier 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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"The mood on board is pretty interesting to be honest, as we all swing between lamenting the desperate situation we are in and trying to stay positive and happy and keep moral up. The good thing is that most of the time we are laughing and the more we fall behind the more we seem to laugh at stupid stuff," added Fisher.
The blue boat is now 357 nm behind Green Dragon and has the lowest boat speed of all the boats at 13.7 knots.
Delta Lloyd has arrived in Rio de Janeiro to join Telefónica Black the Marina da Gloria and have resumed work on the Volvo Open 70. |
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Telefonica Blue crew member Jordi
Calafat (Helmsman) looking at the trim of the J4
en route to Rio De Janeiro on Leg 5 of the Volvo
Ocean Race.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 5 Day 27 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) DTF 4048 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +116
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) + 149
Green Dragon IRL / CHI (Ian Walker / GBR) +422
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +779
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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