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.
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.
As the Volvo fleet approaches Boston and the finish of leg six, they have one more hurdle to clear. A high-pressure ridge has stopped the leaders and has given the followers another chance at the podium. Once through the ridge, the fleet will have a clear run to cross the finish line tomorrow.
She’s been in the lead for the entire leg. She was first at the scoring gate. She had a lead of over 100 nm, but, she lost it all when Ericsson 4 came steaming in to steal her thunder, rain on her parade. How? Why?
The gybe onto port yesterday was critical. Bouwe Bekking and his boys on Telefónica Blue were struggling with boatspeed against the powerful Ericsson 4 and both boats went into hiding to keep the moment of their manoeuvre secret for a long as possible.
What else could Telefónica Blue do? At 0700 GMT this morning, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.
The bleeding should have stopped by now. Telefónica Blue should be in good breeze and her margin increased to a safer distance from the hounds that are on her tail. She should have been looking ahead to a clear win in Boston.
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