It was another tough leg for Ian Walker and his crew on Green Dragon who crossed the finish today in Boston at 14:08 GMT in seventh place, after suffering a knockdown in a heavy gust yesterday.
The fight for fifth place in leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race went down to the wire today between two Spaniards, Fernando Echávarri on Telefónica Black versus Roberto Bérmudez at the helm of the generation one boat, Delta Lloyd.
Having been the bridesmaid so often, leg six was one that PUMA’s skipper, Kenny Read would particularly have liked to win, but, once again, it wasn’t to be, and the team finished in Boston today at 2312 GMT (1812 local) in fourth place.
Ericsson Racing Team continued its dominance of the Volvo Ocean Race today when Torben Grael/BRA/Ericsson 4 and Magnus Olsson/SWE/Ericsson 3 finished first and second on leg six from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Boston, USA.
It has been an up and down morning and midday for us on Ericsson 3. We have been stuck in no wind, up and sailing in over 12 knots on flat water, and then stuck again. One nice thing though is that the air temperature has become very nice and warm and the times when we have had wind it has been very nice sailing.
Now in the closing stages of the 4,900 nm leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio de Janeiro to Boson, USA, the intensity onboard at least the first four boats in the fleet is almost unbearable.
Mid morning local time and most of the lads on Ericsson 4 have not slept for the past 24hrs. The conditions are difficult to say the least.
Yesterday was a day of mixed feelings, as Ericsson 3 managed to close the gap right up to their sistership, and we stopped. Puma, who was easily behind us at that stage, kept offshore as a result and kept the breeze a little longer and sailed right around us.
Not too much was decided in the ‘decisive gybe’ a couple of days ago. It made it more difficult for some and easier for others, but since then we have had lots of opportunities:
The finish is within sight, and the fight for fifth is still continuing. With the big split over the last 24 hours, each position report is a message from above to tell us what conditions the others are in. Are they gaining or losing? What is their wind like? How fast were they?
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