Telefonica Black, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston. Image copyright Anton Paz/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Roger Nilson (navigator)
Five boats have a real ‘drag race’ on for the last 340 nm to Noronha. Telefónica Blue can watch the action behind her as she has sailed excellently and should make the scoring gate first, no problem. She has stretched her lead and probably there are no more passing lanes are available.
The South East trades are expected to be more steady than they were today which also will make it difficult for Green Dragon to catch up with the pack of five in the middle. Leading this group now is Ericsson 4 and knowing her impressive reaching speed, she will be hard to pass even if there is only 10 nm from her to Ericsson 3 with Delta Lloyd, Puma and us in between.
Looking out in the darkness of the crystal clear tropical night, we can see Delta's white stern light, a bit ahead on our starboard side and the green navigation lights of Puma and Ericsson 3 on our port beam. In which order will we arrive to this fairly unknown island Fernando de Noronha? The day after tomorrow you will know...
All well onboard the Black boat except a small charging problem which David Vera seems to have fixed by making better ventilation for the over-heated regulator. I guess we all feel a bit overheated, both when it comes to below deck temperature but also from the heat of the fight against our nearest competition, Puma, Delta and Ericsson 3. Speed, speed and more speed is what we all are looking for right now...
Volvo Ocean Race
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