A winning
move?
Leg 6 Day 13 - 14:41 GMT Thursday, April 23, 2009. |
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What else could Telefónica Blue do? At 07:00 GMT this morning, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and
skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.
Now running hard downwind, the wind direction had called for a gybe, and Bekking’s dilemma was when, exactly, should he carry out the manoeuvre? He took the only decision he could and played his Stealth card, keeping secret, at least for 12 hours, the moment he made his move. Telefónica Blue’s position will be revealed on the 19:00 GMT position report tonight. |
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Lots of water running down the deck,
onboard 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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"A very tricky call has to be made. You gybe too early and you run out of pressure, you gybe too late and you end up with a bad angle to the whale exclusion box, as the breeze will come rapidly forward until we are hard on the wind. That will be the race call," Bouwe explained yesterday.
In a radio interview today, Roger Nilson, navigator of sistership Telefónica Black commented that he believes Telefónica Blue is struggling with boatspeed against Ericsson 4 and can’t defend themselves. |
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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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The route to Boston for the fleet is complicated, not only by the approaching cold front, but also by the risk of collision with one of the world’s most critically endangered whales, the North Atlantic right whale, of which there are less than 400 individuals left.
Right whales are a slow moving whale, often travelling just below the surface, a behaviour that has left them particularly vulnerable to the increasing levels of vessel traffic along the eastern seaboard of the United States. |
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Great sailing conditions 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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The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a region off the Boston coastline, is a critical feeding area for a number of large whale species including the North Atlantic right whale and an exclusion zone has been put in place by the race organisers to keep the fleet away from the area.
Meanwhile, as the rest of the fleet prepared for some cold, windy weather. At 10:00 GMT, Torben Grael too reached for his Stealth card and Ericsson 4’s position will remain unknown until 22:00 GMT tonight. For Ericsson 3, who has been constantly keeping pace with Ericsson 4, it is disappointment. |
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Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael
(BRA), back at the start of leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean
Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"We have gone from rookies in this race to actually winning the longest leg in its history. Of course, we are still very humble, and of course we know that we have a lot more to learn, but once you have done well you want to do it again and again and when the results don’t come, times get tougher," wrote Ericsson 3’s MCM Gustav Morin today.
Yesterday, Ericsson 4 managed to slip away by a few miles. "We couldn’t do much other than checking everything was OK with the boat and just struggle on," Morin said. "It’s pretty frustrating when you have had the same speed for days and then, suddenly, one boat starts to go a touch faster," he added. |
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Thomas Johanson having breakfast as
far aft as possible to keep the bow up, 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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The crew on PUMA are also licking their wounds. "A few days back I was ‘complaining’ about being next to the two Ericsson boats all the time. Well, I should have known better. Be careful what you wish for, as they utilised their western position and buzzed off and put a pretty good licking on us over the last 48 hours," said skipper Kenny Read.
However, onboard Delta Lloyd, there has been no lack of boatspeed and navigator
Wouter Verbraak reports great sailing in 20 - 24 knots of wind. "Our close
battle with Telefónica Black continues, which is a real motivator as well," he
said, explaining that Telefónica Black had opted for a more risky westerly
route and did well yesterday morning, but now they are in less wind and it is
Delta Lloyd’s turn again. |
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Sail changes 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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For Green Dragon, at the back of the fleet, the crew is just wishing for an extra 1,000kgs of lead in their keel bulb to help their performance. "Anything we do well produces a sched (position report) with, at best, no loss, and any small mistakes or misfortunes are punished hard," said navigator Ian Moore.
Conditions are downwind at a steady 20 knots as the teams prepare for the final last battle of leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race. The cold front will give the fleet strong winds and tough conditions. "We will have to make sure we nurse the boat through that," said Verbraak alluding to the old adage, "To finish first, you have to finish." |
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Watchleader Nick Bice getting wet while
trimming the mainsail, 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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Anthony Merrington trimming in rough
weather, 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 13 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) Stealth Play
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) Stealth Play
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) DTF 841
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +15 nm
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +68nm
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez / ESP) +78 nm
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +131 nm
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
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