Action on board the Green Dragon. Image copyright Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing.
by Lucy Harwood
Nearly 24 hours into leg six and progress has been very slow for the seven competing yachts with boat speeds between 1.5 – 5 knots. Telefonica Blue and Green Dragon made a bold move and pushed hard to become closer to the shore than the rest of the pack and picked up a little more land breeze. The two are now leading the pack of seven having taken a more coastal route and are within sight of one another, Green Dragon are polled as 1 mile off the leader Telefonica Blue. The following four boats are sailing in extremely close company, with just one mile between third to sixth place and 11 miles separating first to the last boat Delta Lloyd.
Already some are predicting the leg to Boston to be longer than expected – 20 days instead of the predicted 16. Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker still thinks leg one will feel like a short offshore race having been at sea for 42 days in leg 5.
Leg Six Day 2: 1600 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
1. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 4806 nm
2. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +1
3. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +3
4. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +4
5. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +4
6. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +4
7. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +11
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Postscript: Fleet Re-Shuffle
The fleet continue to deal with the light tricky conditions along the coast of Brazil. The fleet has re-shuffled overnight with Green Dragon moving from second to seventh. 23 miles now split the pack from front to back as the Dragon stays the most easterly boat in the fleet.
Green Dragon Racing
Volvo Ocean Race
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