At 03:55 GMT, in the early hours (00:55 local time) of a rainy Sunday morning, Telefónica Blue eased across the finish line off the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro to take fifth place in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker/GBR led his hungry 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.
At 1300 GMT, Green Dragon was 36 nautical miles from the finish line at Rio de Janeiro, with Bouwe Bekking’s Telefónica Blue only 65 nm behind. At 1300 GMT, the Volvo Open 70 was sailing at 11 knots but as can be seen on the ground in Rio there is very little wind in the Guanabara Bay. The estimated time of arrival has now pushed back to 1630 GMT or 1330 local time but that looks a little optimistic at present.
It seems like we are alone on the ocean. The Dragons have gone in stealth mode, we don’t know why, as we are safely tucked behind them, but it might get some of their supporters a bit more nervous. With the given the wind direction there is only one course to sail for us and that is straight to Rio, no big buffalo girl possible right now. But the dragons will approach Rio at night time, not the best time of the day, so who knows how much they will slow down.
With the first three boats safely tied up in the Marina da Gloria, Rio after completing the 12,300 nm leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, the next boat expected to finish will be Ian Walker’s Green Dragon.
Ken Read/USA guided PUMA over the finish line this morning in Rio de Janeiro at 0427 GMT (0127 local) to claim the third podium place on leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, a result good enough for Read to retain second position in the race overall at this halfway stage.
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.
Late yesterday afternoon we finally escaped the clutches of the high pressure that had been slowing our progress for the previous couple of days.
Zero. That is what the boat speed reads right now – 80 miles from the finish, 40 odd miles behind Ericsson 4. To put this in perspective, we made six miles toward the finish in the last three hour position reports and gained on E4!
Zero. That is what the boat speed reads right now – 80 miles from the finish, 40 odd miles behind Ericsson 4.To put this in perspective, we made six miles toward the finish in the last three hour position reports and gained on E4!
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