19 May VOR Day 4

The sun was out for a few hours and although it was still a bit foggy, it was a wonderful spring like day. The sea was flat and the boats went dry inside and out. And then, moist and cold again. Due to the fog everything gets moist and wet. And when things get wet, they get colder.

Crews are trying to keep their socks dry. When the mist went away for a few hours, the crews used the time to dry the boats and the gear. The crews are looking forward to the warmer water around the corner when they get closer to the Gulf Stream.

Green Dragon is out of last place and are less than an hour behind all the other boats after making big gains to the South. Being south was an advantageous thing.

Telefónica Blue continues to make her mark on the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 when she was first past the scoring gate off Newfoundland, claiming 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.

Everything lined up perfectly for full points at the scoring gate until early yesterday morning when a couple of big whales appeared out of the thick fog. Ericsson 3 managed to avoid the first one, but only saw the tail of the next one as it dived just in front. The boat hit with both the keel and the daggerboard, and came to a complete stop with some bad noises from the appendages. The keel fin fairings were damaged or off in a big area, but the daggerboard was ok. Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd are just in front, and they are slowly pulling away.

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

VOR, Boston to Galway

After a short postponement the last open ocean leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 got underway 16 May 2009.

There was some confusion around the time of the postponement which led to four boats racing half the first beat of the inshore course before turning back to restart 20 minutes later.

After the gun fired, the seven-strong fleet split immediately with PUMA (Ken Read/USA ) looking really strong on port tack, followed by Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP), Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) and Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), while Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE), Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) and Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) opted for a starboard tack start.

Fog descended on the course as Telefónica Blue screamed up through the fleet to lead round the first mark, followed by Telefónica Black, Green Dragon, PUMA, Ericson 3 and Ericsson 4. As the fleet approached the mark, a large freighter hove into view. The leaders had a clear rounding, but Delta Lloyd was forced to alter course by the ship and rounded in last place.

While the two Telefónica boats showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet, PUMA ate into Green Dragon’s margin and Ericsson 4 put pressure on PUMA.

At the second turning mark the two Telefónica boats, Blue and Black, led the fleet. PUMA stole third place from Green Dragon as they nipped inside at the mark, followed by Ericsson 4. Ericsson 3 sailed ‘through the eye of the needle’ between PUMA and Green Dragon as the fleet dropped their spinnakers and flew headsails for the final leg of the course.

The final order as the fleet left Boston and disappeared into the mist heading for Galway in Ireland, was Telefónica Blue, Telefónica Black, PUMA and overall race leader Ericsson 4.

The first boat is scheduled to arrive in Galway one week from today, but first the fleet has to cope with ice further south than normal, a scoring gate off the island of Newfoundland, a whale exclusion zone just off Boston, and an ice exclusion zone in the shape of a pouch hanging to the east and south of Newfoundland.

It this isn’t enough to keep the minds of the 77 sailors occupied, in 2005-06 on this Atlantic leg Bouwe Bekking and his crew had to abandon their yacht movistar and were rescued by the crew of ABN AMRO TWO who, days before, had had to cope with the loss of crewman Hans Horrevoets who drowned after being washed over the side. The 2,550nm leg seven to Galway promises to give the seven competing crews plenty to think about.

Start of Leg Six

After a short stopover of just two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, less for some teams, it was back out on the race track again on Saturday 11 April at the start of the 4,900 nautical mile leg six to Boston, USA, another new port introduced for this, the 10th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

In 30 degrees of heat, a marching band playing bagpipes heralded the departure of the seven teams who were accompanied by Samba dancers as they made their way down the dock and onboard their race boats which will be their home for another two weeks.

A light southwesterly sea breeze of 5 – 10 knots allowed the fleet to make a clean start on time in the Guanabara Bay at 1500 local. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) chose the committee boat end of the line, with Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) at the pin end.

Ericsson 4 made a very late and slow start but skipper Torben Grael was determined to ‘own’ the right hand side of the course, which was where there was more breeze and less current. Practically rock-hopping so close in to the shore they went, and, at one point heading towards a rather alarmed spectator fleet, Torben Grael displayed his expert local knowledge, and Ericsson 4 started to make steady gains up through the fleet.

Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) led the fleet to the first mark, set off the famous Copacabana beach and continued to hold that position to lead the fleet past the famous Sugar Loaf mountain and out into open waters. PUMA rounded the mark in second place, but, under huge pressure from Ericsson 4, made a mistake and Torben Grael quickly swiped back second place. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) was fourth followed by Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE), Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd.

Heading back in a loop towards the start line, Telefónica Black continued to sail impressively and opened up a big lead on the rest of the fleet. At the second mark Ericsson 3 came from nowhere to arrive at almost the same time as Ericsson 4, looking to take an easy second place until the crew had a problem and could not drop their spinnaker, requiring one member of the crew to climb the mast to free the sail. Almost all the fleet passed them, leaving them only ahead of Delta Lloyd.

On the second upwind leg, Torben Grael repeated his first leg tactics and once again headed towards the Rio shore.

As the fleet headed out to sea, Fernando Echávarri’s Telefónica Black was the clear leader. Ericsson 4 was safely in second place from PUMA in third who, in turn was just ahead of Telefónica Blue, fourth, and Green Dragon fifth. Ericsson 3 was not far behind, but Delta Lloyd was trailing.

The next 12 hours they had absolutely no wind, only massive old swell rolling in to make the boats roll uncontrollably and very uncomfortable. After leading the fleet out of the Guanabara Bay at the start of Volvo Ocean Race leg six in Rio yesterday, Fernando Echávarri’s bowman, Mike Pammenter from South Africa, had to be taken off the racing yacht by a support boat after injuring his ankle.

Light In-Port Race in Rio

Two races are scheduled on Saturday, beginning at 13:00 local time (16:00 GMT), and they will be scored as a series. The winner on the day will be awarded four scoring points towards the overall Volvo Ocean Race leaderboard. The 'Light In-Port Race in the Volvo Ocean Race' also sees the return of Telefonica Black and Team Delta Lloyd, both of whom arrived in Rio by ship, missing the leg from Qingdao after suffering damage during Leg 4 of the race. Both teams are eager to make up for lost time. Telefonica Black expects a boost for the in-port race from the addition of double Olympic Gold Medallist Luis Doreste, who will sail as tactician.

It was a great win in the ‘Light In-Port Race’ for Bouwe Bekking’s Telefónica Blue after a long postponement in Rio de Janeiro today. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) put in a solid performance to take second, but the surprise result was the outstanding performance by the rejuvenated Delta Lloyd with Spaniard, Roberto Bérmudez in charge, who took the third podium position.

Only one race was run due to the two hour postponement, but once the sea breeze filled in, there was a solid seven to 10 knot southerly breeze on the Guanabara Bay. Ian Walker and Green Dragon led the fleet off the pin end of the start line, with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), sailing with HRH the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden onboard, and Delta Lloyd looking good at the windward end.

Ken Read elected to start on port tack, and out in the clear air on the right hand side of the course, the choice paid off. At the first mark PUMA led the field, followed closely by Ericsson 3, the winner of leg five, with Magnus Olsson as skipper.

Both Ericsson 4 and Telefónica Black managed to beat back Green Dragon to post fourth and fifth at the finish, pushing Ian Walker and his men into sixth place. After their superb start, Green Dragon was never really in contention and Ian Walker will no doubt be disappointed with his result today. Ericsson 3’s day was effectively over when she had to take a penalty for a port/starboard infringement with Telefónica Black.

The Light In-Port Race Rio de Janeiro Results (Provisional)
1. Telefónica Blue 4.0 points
2. PUMA 3.5 points
3. Delta Lloyd 3.0 points
4. Ericsson 4: 2.5 points
5. Telefónica Black 2.0 points
6. Green Dragon 1.5 points
7. Ericsson 3: 1 points
8. Team Russia DNS

Overall Leaderboard
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA): 66 points
2. PUMA (Ken Read/USA): 56.5 points
3. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED): 54.5 points
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE): 44.5 points
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR): 41 points
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP): 23 points
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP): 15 points
8. Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT): 10.5 points