Telefonica Black (bilden) behåller sin knappa ledning på 3 Nm i Volvo Ocean Race på väg mot Irland. Fältet rör sig ganska långsamt framåt och Ericssons båda båtar hänger med bra. På tisdagseftermiddagen låg Ericsson 4 trea (4 Nm efter leare) och Ericsson 3 var femma (12 Nm efter ledaren).
Båtarna seglar på i farter på under 10 knop. Det behövs ett rejält vindskifte med kraftiga vindförändringar för att något dramatiskt ska inträffa och för att fältet ska börja spridas ut. Troligen kommer detta inom ett dygn eller två när båtarna drar norrut.
Här är den senaste pressreleasen från Race Office:
Telefónica Blue Leg Seven Day 3 QFB; received 18.05.09 1528 GMT
Posted: 18 May 2009 07:38 AM PDT
Not much to report, still sailing in thick fog and having a very close race, where everybody can win at the scoring gate – it will be another cliff-hanger. You win and you will be happy, you lose and still you might think you sailed ok, but losing is losing.
Of course we set our hopes and minds on the maximum score and we are fighting for every meter. Now that that the wind has dropped, it is not as cold anymore, nearly pleasant on deck. Still can’t see any of the other boats, just keeping an eye on the radar. Last night we were only a few meters apart from what we thought was Ericsson 4. You could barely see their lights but could hear the sheets getting eased, great carbon drums are these boats. I think we both thought this was a bit too close as we separated quickly again. The guys are all in good shape, and we are in a full routine again. Doesn’t take too much time to forget all the luxury from ashore.
Bouwe Bekking – skipper
Ericson 4 Leg Seven Day 3 QFB: received 18.05.09 1524 GMT
Posted: 18 May 2009 07:24 AM PDT
Cold and foggy as usual in this area! Yesterday was an interesting day with close racing between the five front runners, especially at Sable point, where current was quite strong and we had fishing pods everywhere!!
We were passing PUMA through to windward when we caught a couple of them that nearly stopped the boat, quite demanding trying to avoid them as they were so close to each other and some of them had long floating lines. Once we caught them they go around the keel and you can see the buoy coming at full speed. One of them jumped on our stern wake and nearly hit me while I was in the aftermost part of the cockpit looking how the buoy cleared around the rudder. Fortunately, the other boats were dealing with the same problems and could see their bows going up and down trying to avoid them!
Luckily we were well clear of this area when the night came. It has been quite a radar game with the competition during the night and we did pretty well gaining a bit on the front boats. There is not to much left to the scoring gate so every meter counts!
We have been dealing with some weed that we have in the keel, nothing major but something that you want to get rid off. It has been there for more than 24hours now, but if we decide to back down it will cost us too much so close to the gate. Let’s see what we can do to get rid of it without slowing down.
This morning we identified a big object on the water. Approaching we could see was the back of a whale that was probably sleeping as it dived slowly when we approached. We only passed a couple of meters away and for me it was the closest we had been to one in this race so far.
Horacio Carabelli – trimmer
