It has been a hard weekendt. Fighting upwind with a nice uncomfortable wave and some 25 knots of breeze at night after passed the scoring gate of Isla Fernando de Noronha. Ericsson 3 had a hard time. They were fighting in the bottom end of the league and it didn’t feel like the hard work is paying off. Green Dragon on the other hand claimed full points at the scoring gate. Now they are facing over 3000 miles direct line (more like 4200 miles actual sailing to re-cross the Atlantic to Cape Town). It’s been a tricky 36 hours on the Green Dragon as they watched faster boats chip away at their lead and pass to windward. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that it is day 14 and they are still in sight of Puma and Ericsson fighting for the lead. The Irish are punching above their weight and enjoying every second.
The fleet racing in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race is about to have its first taste of ‘Life at the Extreme’ as the crews prepare to ride a 40 knot westerly gale straight towards Cape Town. Leaders Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) has started to make her turn to the east, followed by the chasing pack of four, PUMA (Ken Read/USA), Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) and Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP). But, while high winds are forecast, the fleet still has to negotiate a light patch of wind, before they can enjoy the sleigh ride east.
