Ericsson 4 kommer allt närmare Telefonica Blue, som leder den pågående etappen av Volvo Ocean Race. Ericsson 4 ligger nu endast 10 Nm akter om den spanska båten medan Ericsson 3 ligger 25 Nm efter. På fjärde plats ligger Puma, 36 Nm efter. Nu återstår mindre än 1 000 Nm till målet i Boston. Med lika goda förutsättningar som de senaste dagarna så kommer Ericssons båda båtar att få en tuff kamp med Telefonica Blue om segern.
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PUMA Leg Six Day 11 QFB: received 21.04.09 1931 GMT
Posted: 22 Apr 2009 11:31 AM PDT
One of the fun parts of this race is learning about each other’s lives in ways that you never could otherwise. You live in close quarters for nine months. Eleven guys crammed into, quite literally, a shoe. Here are just a few simple ones:
For example, I know that Erle Williams takes his job with the J Boat ‘Ranger’ so personally that he could feel the collision that they had with Velsheda yesterday at the Antigua Classic Regatta from here.
I know that Shannon Falcone likes to night time kiteboard back in Antigua. Sounds like a tough life doesn’t it?
I know that Casey Smith is possessed about dune buggy-style cars and has put together his own engine in his garage and is searching desperately for a chassis to go with it to drive around Newport in style.
Justin Ferris went home over the last break and went sailing. Think about that for a minute. Thing is, he went sailing on his new 30′ version of a Volvo 70, that is painted purple.
Andrew Cape gets IT jobs on the side when he isn’t sailing.
Sidney Gavignet has a mural of a Phoenix painted on his back.
Rob Salthouse can fix just about anything on a boat – whatever kind of boat it is.
Bob Greenhalgh is passionate about deep sea fishing and puts a photo of himself with some big fish up as a screensaver on all our computers.
Ricky Deppe has a very interesting sense of what makes a movie good and what doesn’t.
And Michi Mueller – the quiet one, has a competitive a streak as anyone I have met. First one to the nav station every three hours to see how we are doing – won’t talk about it though. Oh yeah, and his new born daughter will be meeting him on the dock in Boston – a very special moment that will be.
They are a bunch of good guys that will be part of this ‘Monster Club’ for the rest of our days.
As for the race? Oh yes, we are heading northwest still in search of a little more wind. The boats to the west of us have capitalised on a bit more breeze in the past 24 hours. We have to do something about that soon. We think we’ll be able to claim the miles back soon but time will only tell. The drag race continues.
Kenny Read – skipper
Leg Six Day 12 Daily Story: Tense Time For Telefónica Blue
Posted: 22 Apr 2009 08:03 AM PDT
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.
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 1273 nm of runway left for Telefónica Blue to the finish in Boston.
In a radio interview today, the skipper of Ericsson 4, 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. 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. “
Ahead, the weather is due to change. According to race meteorologist Jennifer Lilly, low pressure has been moving slowly over the east coat 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.
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.”
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.
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
Leg Six Day 12: 1300 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
Länk: www.volvooceanrace.org
