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| The bleeding should have stopped by now. Telefónica Blue should be in good breeze and her margin increased to a safer distance from the hounds that are on her tail. She should have been looking ahead to a clear win in Boston. |
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Lots of spray hit the crew of Telefonica
Blue, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de
Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| However, nothing has gone according to plan. The Weather Gods are not playing fairly and Ericsson 4 is continuing to close. She has the bit between her teeth with Ericsson 3 equally focussed, but four miles behind. The gap is now a worrying 22 miles and there is only 1,273 nm of runway left for Telefónica Blue to the finish in Boston. |
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Heavy weather approaching Ericsson
4, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro
to Boston.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| In a radio interview today, the skipper of Ericsson 4 and overall race leader, Torben Grael said, "Slowly but surely, we are eating into Telefónica Blue’s lead and the race is now much more open. At the same time, we are having a good fight with Ericsson 3 and PUMA for second place." |
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Onboard Ericsson 3, on leg 6 of the
Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| "We are always within five to 10 miles of each other. We are all giving it our utmost to try to get that second spot. The position we have in the fleet obviously influences the mood on board, but it’s part of ocean sailing to concentrate at all times to do a good job and to have patience when things don’t go so well," added Grael. |
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Casey Smith, onboard PUMA Ocean Racing,
on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro
to Boston.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| Ahead, the weather is due to change. According to race meteorologist Jennifer Lilly, low pressure has been moving slowly over the east coast of the United States this week, leaving wet and cool conditions for the shore teams in Boston. This same low will move off the coast tomorrow and will pass over the fleet sometime on Friday giving gusty winds and squalls. If the fleet is near the Gulf Stream, it will cause rapidly building seas. |
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Keeping concentration, onboard Telefonica
Black, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de
Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Anton Paz / Telefonica Black / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| According to Grael, this will mean a tack onto port, the first time since the fleet passed Cabo Frio at the start of the leg near Rio de Janeiro. "The poor boat has been on starboard tack the whole time! We will then have different wind, which will bring us some new opportunities." |
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Ericsson 4's skipper Torben Grael back
at the leg 6 skippers press conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Speeds are high across the whole fleet, which routing software is predicting will finish in Boston on Sunday afternoon. Although the two Ericsson boats are still sailing a knot faster and recorded a 24-hour run of 419 against Telefónica Blue’s 410nm, the blue boat is still holding her own against the rest of the fleet.
"This race is hard. The boats are so similar in speed, between 5-10 miles of separation since Fernando de Noronha with two other boats, and that is very hard work," concluded Grael. |
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Sleeping onboard Delta Lloyd, on leg
6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Sander Pluijm / Team Delta Lloyd / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Scoring Gate Results Fernando de Noronha
1. Telefónica Blue - 19:58:56 GMT 16.04.09 - 4 Points
2. Ericsson 4 - 22:55:36 GMT 16.04.09 - 3.5 Points
3. Delta Lloyd - 23:28:32 GMT 16.04.09 - 3 Points
4. Puma - 23:29:31 GMT 16.04.09 - 2.5 Points
5. Telefónica Black - 23:42:20 GMT 16.04.09 - 2 Points
6. Ericsson 3 - 00:14:28 GMT 17.04.09 - 1.5 Points
7. Green Dragon - 01:27:26 GMT 17.04.09 - 1 Point |
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Green Dragon making the most of the
strong wind, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from
Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 6 Day 12 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
1. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) DTF 1,273 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +22nm
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +26nm
4. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +42 nm
5. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +65nm
6. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez / ESP) +70 nm
7. Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +116 nm
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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