Rough weather onboard Green Dragon, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston. Image copyright Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Lizzie Green Ward
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.
“We've been looking forward to Boston for a long time,” said skipper Ian Walker, “It's the first step to Galway if you like. What a perfect day, spinnaker up all the way down the river, the sun's out, there are worse things in the world.
“I'm just pleased we had a bit of a race of it. We had a few little opportunities and we got within a few hours of other boats, and as you saw with Telefonica Black, you can make up some miles. But we had a terrible night last night - no wind at all, just flapping around - we're just lucky we had enough wind to get in here today.
“We don't give up until the other boats have crossed the finishing line. There's always hope.
“I just had a chat with the lads at the end and I said, 'a lot of crews wouldn't still be together after the tough last leg, running out of food and the problems we've had to overcome, and then this leg, finishing last and slipping further and further behind on the long reaching sequence...' But I think the fact that we're all here, we're all smiling, that speaks volumes.
“It's funny how your concept of scale changes. I used to think sailing across the English Channel was a long way. Now, when I got in the Atlantic, I thought I was nearly home. I'd never done a transatlantic before this race, but now Galway doesn't seem far away at all.”
It is the first time that the Volvo Ocean Race has stopped in Boston and the seven crews will now be able to have good recuperation period in Fan Pier before the in-port race on 9 May. The start of leg seven, on 16 May, will take the fleet 2,550 nm back across the Atlantic and into Galway, Ireland, another new port for this edition of race.
Leg Six Finishing Order Boston
1. Ericsson 4: 8 points
2. Ericsson 3: 7 points
3. Telefónica Blue: 6 points
4. PUMA: 5 points
5. Telefónica Black: 4 points
6. Delta Lloyd: 3 points
7. Green Dragon: 2 points
Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) 77.5 points (FINISHED)
2. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 64.5 points (FINISHED)
3. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) 64.0 points (FINISHED )
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 53.0 points (FINISHED)
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) 44.0 points (FINISHED)
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) 29.0 points (FINISHED)
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) 21.0 points (FINISHED)
8. Team Russia 10.5 points (DNS)
Scoring Gate Results Fernando de Noronha
1. Telefónica Blue 19:58:56 GMT 16.04.09 4.0 Points
2. Ericsson 4 22:55:36 GMT 16.04.09 3.5 Points
3. Delta Lloyd 23:28:32 GMT 16.04.09 3.0 Points
4. Puma 23:29:31 GMT 16.04.09 2.5 Points
5. Telefónica Black 23:42:20 GMT 16.04.09 2.0 Points
6. Ericsson 3 00:14:28 GMT 17.04.09 1.5 Points
7. Green Dragon 01:27:26 GMT 17.04.09 1.0 Point
Volvo Ocean Race
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