Telefónica Blue wins gate points
Leg 7 Day 4 - 14:41 GMT Tuesday, May 19, 2009. |
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| Telefónica Blue continues to make her mark on the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 when at 03:11 GMT today, she was first past the scoring gate off Newfoundland to claim four points. This comes on top of her recent wins inshore in Rio de Janeiro and Boston and her rounding the Fernando de Noronha Gate in first place on leg six. |
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Straight into cold and windy conditions.
Daryl Wislang is adding a new sheet to the jib and
is holding onto it while Xabier Fernandez is pulling
him towards the boat, during leg 7 from Boston to Galway.
Photo © zzz.
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The crew of the blue boat had to work hard for their points and at first, according to skipper Bouwe Bekking, it wasn’t looking good at all.
"For some reason, we had been losing ground and were in fourth place, a couple of miles behind the leaders. We had been checking our foils regularly, but nothing to see. But during one more check, Pepe Ribes saw something." |
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Pepe Ribes and Xabi Fernandez trimming,
onboard Telefonica Blue, on leg 7 from Boston to Galway.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| The team immediately sailed the boat backwards to clear the keel and then, the fight was on. "Slowly, but surely, we reeled the boats ahead in," described Bekking. In the end, the team clawed past PUMA by less than a minute, crossed through the gate and tacked immediately to avoid the western perimeter of the ice exclusion zone. |
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Michael Muller changing sails, onboard
PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 7 from Boston to Galway.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| The fleet has a lateral separation of 14 miles from east to west, all are heading due south and all havie crossed through the scoring gate. They are currently 213 nm due south from Cape Race on the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the Canadian Island of Newfoundland, where the cliffs rise nearly vertically to 30.5m above sea level. |
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Green dragon sustain dammage to their
leeward, port daggerboard, after hitting a lobster
pot, during leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Boston
to Galway.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The position of the ice exclusion zone is the reason for the fleet having to turn south and Telefónica Black, the easternmost yacht is parallel to, but 106 nm from, the western corner of the zone.
The fleet must now sail 175 nm along the bottom of the zone, while still keeping a careful lookout for ice before they can swing north again. The northeast corner of the box has today been extended to latitude 40 degrees west, due to further ice sightings in the region. |
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Stacking, onboard Telefonica Black,
on leg 7 from Boston to Galway.
Photo © Anton Paz / Telefonica Black / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Scoring Gate Order
1. Telefónica Blue at 03:11.24 GMT
2. PUMA at 03:12.04 GMT
3. Ericsson 4 at 03:33.05 GMT
4. Ericsson 3 at 04:06.02 GMT
5. Telefónica Black at 04:36.54 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd at 06:16.00 GMT |
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Rough weather onboard Telefonica
Blue, on leg 7 from Boston to Galway.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 7 Day 4 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
1. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DTL 1863 nm
2. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez / ESP) +3
3. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +4
4. Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +10
5. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +12
6. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +15
7. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +16
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
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