Ericsson Racing Team sailing in Rio de Janeiro. Image copyright Oskar Kihlborg/Ericsson Racing Team.
by Victoria Low
After a busy but enjoyable layover here, Ericsson Racing Team stands ready for Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race to Boston, USA.
Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazil's Torben Grael, enters the leg with a 10-point lead in the overall standings. Ericsson 3, skippered by Magnus Olsson of Sweden, is fourth, 21.5 points behind its teammate and 10 points behind third place.
The Volvo Ocean Race has visited the East Coast of the U.S. since the 1989-'90 edition, calling in Florida, Maryland and New York. The move to Boston brings the race to the northeast, where spring is in season.
"That's an important difference," said team meteorologist Chris Bedford. "People may not realize there's a fairly large difference between the south or mid-Atlantic states and the northeast. How you handle the trade winds in the North Atlantic is different for going to Boston."
The 4,900-nautical mile leg begins Saturday at 1800 GMT (1500 local) and is the longest of the five offshore legs remaining in the race.
"This leg represents a bit more than half of the remaining miles of the race," said Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl.
The route takes the fleet from Guanabara Bay, through a scoring gate off Ilha de Fernando de Noronha, through the Doldrums for a final time, and then towards Boston. Once through the Doldrums the fleet should enjoy reaching conditions in the northeasterly trade winds of the North Atlantic Ocean.
"It should be another interesting leg," said Ericsson 4 navigator Jules Salter. "It's got a bit of everything in it: Doldrums, trade winds and some cold, windy, bumpy stuff in the end as we approach spring in the North Hemisphere. We'll be sailing slightly tighter angles through the trades, which will make it different."
The exit from Guanabarra Bay and passage around Cabo Frio will be important in the early going because the fleet will be positioning for the scoring gate at Ilha de Fernando de Noronha (passed to port), approximately 1,350 nautical miles from the start.
Thomas Johansson packing provisions for leg 6. Image copyright Oskar Kihlborg/Ericsson Racing Team.
After the scoring gate the fleet will have to contend with the Doldrums, which should be much narrower this time of year than last fall when boats such as Ericsson 3 were besieged by the light winds for up to 18 hours. Free of the light winds, the fleet will leg into the northeasterly trade winds of the North Atlantic and some fast sailing.
"Coming out of here to Fernando is a well-worn route," said Bedford. "From there it'll be critical to get through the Doldrums first because there'll be few passing opportunities once into the North Atlantic trade winds. In the trades, it's 1,200 to 1,500 nautical miles of high-speed sailing in winds 15 to 20 knots."
The approach to Boston is far from straightforward. Due to an abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale off of Cape Cod and a U.S. law prohibiting vessels longer than 65 feet and faster than 10 knots from traversing Seasonal Management Areas along the U.S. east coast, the fleet must honor an exclusion zone.
The diamond-shaped zone is roughly 150 nautical miles from top to bottom and side to side, and forces the fleet to sail as far north as Maine before beginning the approach to the finish line, approximately 100 nautical miles to the south/southwest.
"They'll have to pass through a narrow opening of four miles between Cape Ann and the western zone marker," said Bedford. "It adds a lot of coastal sailing to the end and should make an interesting finish to the race. It's never straightforward."
The zone could add anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to the leg, which is predicted to last between 17 and 19 days. The fleet has the option of Stealth play on this leg, but the time "invisible" has been reduced to 12 hours from 24 hours on the previous leg. Also, the fleet may not use Stealth play in the final 250 nautical miles of the leg. Previously, the boats could use it to within 50 miles of the finish.
Ericsson 4's navigator Salter said the International crew won't change its strategy despite its lead.
"We've been pretty conservative through the race, so I imagine we'd continue that," Salter said. "If Green Dragon or Delta Lloyd or someone else were to steer off somewhere I would think we might let them go and stay close to Puma or Telefónica Blue, the two boats closest to us. But each situation is different and you can't call it until it's time."
VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEADERBOARD
(After Rio In-Port Race)
1. Ericsson 4, 66 points
2. Puma, 56.5
3. Telefónica Blue, 54.5
4. Ericsson 3, 44.5
5. Green Dragon, 41
6. Telefónica Black, 23
7. Delta Lloyd, 15
Ericsson Racing Team
Volvo Ocean Race
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