All Finished VOR Leg

Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker led his crew over the finish line outside the Marina da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon to claim fourth place in Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the finish line at 18:59 GMT (15:59 local time). The fourth place finish means the team collects 5 points towards its total on the overall leaderboard. Green Dragon sits in fifth place, four points behind Leg 5 winner Ericsson 3.

At 03:55 GMT, in the early hours (00:55 local time) of a rainy Sunday morning, Telefonica Blue eased across the finish line in Rio de Janeiro, to take fifth place. The elapsed time for leg five for Telefonica Blue was a daunting 42 days, 22 hours and 55 minutes. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be for skipper Bouwe Bekking and his team.

Leg Five Finishing Order - Rio de Janeiro

1. Ericsson 3: 8 points

2. Ericsson 4: 7 points

3. PUMA: 6 points

4. Green Dragon: 5 points

5. Telefonica Blue: 4 points

Overall Leaderboard

1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) 63.5 points (Finished)

2. PUMA (Ken Read / USA) 53 points (Finished)

3. Telefonica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED) 50.5 points (Finished)

4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson / SWE) 43.5 (Finished)

5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) 39.5 (Finished)

6. Telefonica Black 21 (DNS)

7. Delta Lloyd 12 (DNS)

8. Team Russia 10.5 (DNS)

Ericsson 4 and Puma Finished

Ericsson Racing Team made it a one/two today in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race when Ericsson 4 crossed the finish line at 2257 GMT (1957 local time) in skipper Torben Grael’s home port of Rio de Janeiro, to stand second on the podium next to Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) who took line honours earlier today.

Ericsson 4 now extends her overall lead to 63.5 points; 10.5 points ahead of PUMA (Ken Read/USA) who, finished this leg in third position, retains second place overall.

After being at sea for 40 days 17 hours 57 minutes and 44 seconds, to the delight of the large and noisy home town crowd who had been waiting for this moment all day, the Brazilian skipper, said: “We have been dreaming of this moment all week long and it is great to be home. The reception has been beautiful.”

Ericsson 4 was the leader of the pack when the Volvo fleet was faced with the decision as to how to tackle the islands of Fiji on day 16, 1 March. Skipper, Torben Grael chose the easterly option, along with Ericsson 3 and Green Dragon and led the field across the first scoring gate to earn four points. Ericsson 3 then made her brave move to the north and Ericsson 4 was left to fight for second place with PUMA (Ken Read/USA).

PUMA Ocean Racing, skippered by Ken Read (USA) finish third into Rio de Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the line at 04:27:00 GMT 27/03/09

Ericsson 3 Finished 1st!

Ericsson 3 has finally crossed the finish line in Rio De Janeiro, to win Leg 5.

After an agonising march to glory, Swedish skipper Magnus Olsson and his men officialy finished at 10:37:57 GMT. Ericsson 3 started eight half hours behind the scheduled starters after a pit stop for repairs in Taiwan en route to the leg start in Qingdao. Olsson admitted the victory seemed a long way off at the time. In a reference to the gamble on snubbing perceived wisdom and heading north in the Southern Ocean at the scoring waypoint at 36 degress south he added: "It was the fantastic strategy that convinced us that we take that risk. We all wanted to take it and the execution of that was very good. We sailed very well."

Stealth Mode

It is day 40 of this 12,300 nautical mile jaunt from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in the closing stages, the leading boat, Ericsson 3, has opted to play her stealth card. She has gone into hiding and will only reappear 24- hours later, or once she is within 50 nm of the finish in Rio. This is the first time on this leg that the stealth card, newly introduced for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, has been played. Ericsson 3 began her ‘StealthPlay’ to give it its official title, immediately after the 1000 GMT position report this morning and her position in the fleet and all her onboard data will now be secret.

However, at 1000 GMT this morning, the last position report before she ‘disappeared’ from the world’s radar, Ericsson 3 had 194 miles to run to the finish as was parallel with Sao Paulo. She was averaging a double-figure boat speed of 10.5 knots and had achieved a run of 262 nm in the past 24 hours.

Her nearest and deadliest rival, Ericsson 4, with the hugely talented Torben Grael at the helm in what are his home waters, was a safe 103 nm behind her. But, spicing things up in the last hours of the leg, Grael too opted for StealthPlay shortly after today’s 1300 GMT positions were released and now the whereabouts of the man who has five Olympic medals to his name and who knows the waters off Rio like the back of his hand, will be unknown for 24-hours. At 1300 GMT today, prior to announcing their StealthPlay, Ericsson 4 had 254 nm to run to the finish, with third-placed PUMA a further 86 miles astern.

Less Than 1000nm to Finish

Ericsson 3’s hard-earned lead was slipping away. It was day 29, 14 March and the boats in the Volvo fleet were benefitting from a low-pressure system as they raced through the Southern Ocean towards Cape Horn and the points that could be scored there. The chasing pack was closing on Ericsson 3, and closing quickly.

After 30 days at sea, Torben Grael had brought Ericsson 4 to within 33 miles of Magnus Olsson and Ericsson 3, and what had looked like certain leader’s points at the scoring gate a few days ago, now seemed to be doubt. She had 854 miles to run to the gate.

By day 31, the fleet was down to 54 degrees south, and the ‘furious fifties’ were in full force. Ericsson 3 had managed to pull out her lead again in conditions that Green Dragon’s Ian Walker had described as ‘brutal’.

It was day 32, 17 March, when Ericsson 3, still in pole position passed Cape Horn and collected maximum points. Ericsson 4 was just 36 miles behind her and PUMA followed in third place.

With a tantalizing 902 miles to race to the finish of the epic 12,300 nm journey that leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race has become, Magnus Olsson and his boys on Ericsson 3 is still in control of the fleet. However, according to Green Dragon’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak, conditions on the racecourse are something of a minefield of light winds, erratic weather models and unexpected twists.

At 1300 GMT today, Ericsson 3 was dealing with yet another high-pressure system, which was slowing their progress considerably.

Ericsson 4 (DTF 86 nm) and third-placed PUMA (DTF 205 nm) have followed almost in the wake of Olsson. Over the past 24 hours, the margin between Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 has only reduced by one mile, while PUMA slipped back 12 miles. The big loss, however, is for Green Dragon, who took an expensive detour to the west, losing the team 141 nm in the last 24 hours. They now trail by 413 nm.

It is an agonising time for Ericsson 3 as Magnus Olsson watches the rest of the fleet catching him as his team fights yet another high-pressure area, which sits between them and the finish of leg five in Rio de Janeiro.

Over the past 24 hours, second-placed Ericsson 4 has closed the gap to 57 nm, gaining 29 miles. PUMA too has knocked a dent in the deficit and is now just 116 nm behind Ericsson 3, a gain of 89 nm in 24 hours. These three yachts are now 400 nm of the coast of Uruguay, roughly parallel to Cabo Palinio.

Green Dragon is still closer inshore, 210 nm off Mar del Plata in Argentina, which was a stopover in the 1981-82 Whitbread Race. Their inshore move, while looking disastrous yesterday, has gained the team 78 nm, just as navigator Wouter Verbraak hoped it would.

With just 771 miles still to run for Ericsson 3 before crossing the finish line in Rio and the safe haven of Marina Da Gloria where hot showers, cool beers and famous Brazilian food await, boat speeds are down to under 10 knots and yet the distance is tantalisingly close.

Cape Horn

Magnus Olsson and his team of Nordic sailors onboard Ericsson 3 rounded the legendary Cape Horn at 1222 GMT today in pole position and in daylight, gaining maximum points at the scoring gate. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) will be the next boat to round the Cape, which marks the border between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. At the time of Ericsson 3’s rounding, Ericsson 4 was 36 miles astern, a gap that has now closed to 18nm. For Ericsson 3, Cape Horn almost lived up to its notorious reputation, producing 25 knot winds and massive seas, but Ericsson 4 is expecting full storm conditions when they round next in line. The crew is looking forward to it. PUMA became the third boat to round Cape Horn on this marathon Leg 5 when Ken Read's men passed through the iconic toll booth at 20:46 GMT and banked themselves three points. Further back in the fleet, the deficits to the Irish-Chinese entry Green Dragon, seeking something to celebrate on St Patrick's Day, was 98 miles from the waypoint. Telefonica Blue was 654 miles adrift.

For every sailor, the achievement of rounding this notorious Cape, which is the tip of one small island with a lighthouse, situated in one of the most remote areas in the world, is never diminished, no matter how many times they do it.

World Match Racing Tour

After a long day that had it all starting with long delays with no wind, then light and shifty conditions, and ending with a building breeze and waves 24-year old Adam Minoprio (NZL) and his Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch Racing team of David Swete, Tom Powrie, and Dan McLean have won the Marseille International Match Race, the first event of the 2009 World Match Racing Tour.

Minoprio had two formidable French obstacles on his path to victory today, starting with Damien Iehl and his French Match Racing Team, who he met in the Semi-Finals. But the series did not start off well, as the Kiwis misjudged the start and were caught over the line early at the gun. Unfazed, Minoprio and team kept their focus in the light and shifty conditions to find a little advantage on the right side of the course and gain back enough to pass Iehl in the middle of the first windward leg.

Showing great composure rather than just reactionary covering tactics, the Kiwis let Iehl take the right while they sailed into a little more pressure they saw to the left, and promptly extended their one length lead to three. It was never less than this for the remainder of this first match.

As the weak sea breeze continued to weaken, Minoprio and team once again were behind at the start in the second Semi-Final match, but managed to roll over Iehl just before the bottom mark. The two teams split, the Kiwis left and the French right, but Iehl got stuck in a windless hole, allowing Minoprio to sail in to an insurmountable 8-length lead at the second top mark, and from there it was on to the Finals.

Minoprio was now up against Mathieu Richard and his French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit, who had just come off a tough 2-1 series of his own against another antipodal young gun 23-year old Torvar Mirsky (AUS). While the teams switched boats, race managers switched the course around towards a late-building westerly Mistral, bringing with it some choppy wind waves on top of a 1-metre swell.

Αs the breeze started dying, and shifted even further right with the setting sun, starboard tack became difficult as the boats slammed head-on into waves often bigger than the wind. This put a premium on proper gear-shifting, and Minoprio and team did this well when it counted. After taking early control off the line to leeward of Richard at the start they simply extended away from the French to take and early lead and never looked back.

Meanwhile in Petite-Final action, Mirsky avenged his loss to Richard in the Semi's by defeating Iehl in straight matches 2-0.

Final Results
1st Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
2nd Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit
3rd Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
4th Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team
5th Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi
6th Sébastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge
7th Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza
8th Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar
9th Philippe Presti (FRA) French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit
10th Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Proximo
11th Pierre Antoine Morvan (FRA) French Match Racing Team
12th Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Onboard

Volvo in the Ice

Down at 50 degrees south, Green Dragon has seen ice. Three bergs, that skipper Ian Walker estimated were 100 metres across and the size of a football pitch, were spotted shining in the darkness. The boat passed two bergs to windward and one to leeward. Daylight came as a relief to the crew who have now gybed north towards the safety of the gate that was supposed to keep the fleet away from ice.

On PUMA, skipper Ken Read reports that the crew are commenting on how thin each is looking. Meanwhile, in the drag race to the ice gate, Ericsson 3 - the freight train at the head of the fleet - is beginning to slow as she too drops off the weather system that abandoned the chasing pack yesterday. Her average speed is down to 13 knots allowing small gains to be made by Ericsson 4, PUMA and Green Dragon. Read reports that PUMA is blasting along between 18 and 24 knots and that the boat is jumping around and banging in the most violent way imaginable. Not so for Telefónica Blue who is trapped by light airs in the south.

Marseille International Match Race

An impressively strong field of Tour Card holders and qualifying teams line up for this week's 2009 Tour season opener at the Marseille International Match Race. The newest event of the ten-stage 2009 World Match Racing Tour will also be its first as 12 teams prepare for Marseille International Match Race, held over 10-15 March and hosted by the Yachting Club Pointe Rouge (YCPR). The assembled field is one of the strongest yet seen, lured by the opportunity to compete against the best talent in the sport, valuable Tour points earned towards the World Championship, and a piece of the €50,000 prize purse.

With three-metre seas and blustery 25-35 knot Mistral conditions in the harbor, Principal Race Officer Gerard Bosse and his race management team from the Yachting Club de la Pointe Rouge decided to postpone the start of the Marseille International Match Race until tomorrow. The 12 teams assembled for this first event of the World Match Racing Tour stayed ashore to rest up and keep their powder dry, as tomorrow will likely be a full day to try and get through Stage One of the competition, a single Round Robin pitting all teams against each other once.

Ericsson 3 Still Leads

Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) is stretching out a substantial lead in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race as the team rides a weather system, which is sweeping them quickly towards Cape Horn and maximum points at the next scoring gate.

Magnus Olsson and his men have now pulled out a lead of 208 nautical miles as they continue to average a boat speed of 24.3 knots, almost four knots faster than the chasing duo of Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and PUMA (Ken Read/USA). Their latest 24-hour run of 516 nautical miles is 83 nm better than overall race leader Ericsson 4 in the same period.

Ericsson 4 and PUMA remain engaged in battle, a little over 200 miles astern of the leader. At 1300 GMT yesterday, PUMA led from Ericsson 4 by seven miles, but today, when the grey mist cleared briefly, the Ericsson 4 could see PUMA two miles behind. They have since extended the margin by 12 miles.

Green Dragon and Telefónica Blue are both in a position with big breeze and the right angles to cash in and regain some of the massive losses they have suffered to the leading trio.

Ericsson 3 Seize Control

The leaderboard has been turned on its head in the past 24 hours with Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) seizing control as the fleet reaches the halfway point of this 12,300 nautical mile marathon en route to Cape Horn. Navigator Aksel Magdahl’s gamble on a northern heading, away from the pack and against conventional Southern Ocean wisdom, soon after the scoring gate at 36 degrees south, is paying off for Ericsson 3:

1- Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 6152nm
2- PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) + 110
3- Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +152
4- Telefonica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +176
5- Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +228

Thru the Scoring Gate

As the Volvo Open 70 fleet drag raced towards the scoring gate at 36 degrees S, it was all to play for, up to the very end. With the eventual winner of the first points of leg five being Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), yet it was Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) who received all the interest after their crossing.

Grael and his International crew picked up four points at 00:21 GMT last night as they crossed the gate and were closely followed by their stable-mate Ericsson 3 at 00:53 GMT. The Nordic crew then decided to make their brave move and immediately tacked to the north-east, away from all the fleet. Olsson has officially put all his trust in his young navigator Aksel Magdahl, who believes that the best course is to the north of the high pressure between them and Cape Horn and not the south.

Despite PUMA’s (Ken Read/USA) crew pushing flat out towards the gate, they finally crossed the line a mere 10 minutes after the Nordic crew. Next came Telefonica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) followed by the Green Dragon just over an hour behind them at 04:31 GMT.

So as four of the fleet head south to get around the high pressure and inevitably make their way further into the Southern Ocean, it is PUMA in the lead at 13:00 GMT with Ericsson 4 a mere nine nm behind on the leaderboard. Yet, in reality Ericsson 4 are 103 nm to the south-west of il Mostro with Telefonica Blue and Green Dragon to the north-west of them with only two miles separating them.

VOR Approaching Scoring Gate

With the satellites all back up and working after their re-organisation in space, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet found itself approaching the Doldrums on their port reach south towards the islands of Fiji, an area where receiving satellite weather information is key to success.

Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) was the first boat to ‘officially’ park as the wind died and the backmarkers started to make serious inroads in to the lead. The fleet was picking its way through the Marshall Islands, a group of 29 atolls and five islands and an area so interesting that most of the teams were absorbed in the digital version of the Pacific Pilot book. Ian Walker had elected to keep Green Dragon as far to the east as possible, a move that would take a week to play out. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) had closed to within 21 nm of Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) was just three miles further back. But the gap of over 200 nm separating Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) who had started 19 hours after the rest of the fleet after a ‘rocky’ experience at the start had begun to close and both she and Green Dragon started to cash in.

The two islands of Fiji have split the pack of five as they race in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race towards Rio de Janeiro. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and PUMA (Ken Read/USA) opted to dodge reefs and atolls and sail between the two Polynesian islands, while the rest of the fleet went to the east. Luckily, for PUMA and Telefónica Blue, the job was completed during daylight hours, which made avoiding uncharted hazards less of a problem, and gave the two crews the chance to plan their next family holidays to these exotic islands. However, it did involve constant tacking and stacking, almost hourly, which was time consuming and costly.

After more than 5,000 miles of racing, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) takes the lead, but has both Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) in sight. Slightly further west, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) lurks just over the horizon, with Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) close by. Sailing is no different from other sports in that when the competition is close, the pressure is on to up the game. The scoring gate at latitude 36 degrees south is just 433 nautical miles away, a tantalisingly close distance, but still more than a day’s sail at the current speeds of around 12.5 knots. Currently, the seas are calm and the wind moderate, and for the first time since the start in Qingdao, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has spinnakers set. In fact, it all sounds perfect.

America's Cup Competitor Meeting

At a fifth 33rd America's Cup Competitor Meeting in Valencia, Alinghi, the Defender, the Spanish Challenger of Record and 16 of the 17 challengers (China absent) discussed amendments to the Competition Regulations, which are now in the final drafting stage. They also agreed a Protocol amendment which will loosen the restriction on designers moving between teams. The group appointed two additional members of the Arbitration Panel. The 19 competitors also named David Pedrick (USA) Technical Director for the 33rd America's Cup.

The Host City agreement was also discussed, along with plans to run the pre-regattas in 2009 and the Match in 2010 in Valencia. Negotiations are moving forward with the Spanish administrations and AC Management is confident of announcing a deal with Valencia in the near future. The competitors decided that participation in the 2009 pre-regattas on ACC Version 5.0 yachts is to be compulsory for all teams and it is intended that syndicates be allocated bases once they confirm their participation in these races.