Green Dragon. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Lucy Harwood
With just over 100 miles remaining on this leg the fleet are facing their final night onboard as they plot the route towards Marstrand in Sweden. The fleet has undergone a compression throughout the day as the back of the pack closed in on the front runners, but the re-shuffle continues and it will be a fight to the finish into the early hours of tomorrow morning.
The battle for pole position continues and the lead has changed hands again today with Green Dragon edging back in front in the early hours of this morning, only for Torben Grael and his men to sneak ahead once more. The Dragon is still holding onto second just 3 miles from Ericsson 4, with Telefonica Blue closing in just 2 miles from the stern of Green Dragon. PUMA has seen the biggest gains and losses of the day, clawing back over 20 miles since this morning and moving up to third, only to once again find themselves at the back of the fleet 19 miles from the leader. Defending second place onboard Green Dragon will be hard for Ian Walker and his crew, conditions will stay light and tricky for the remainder of the leg and another tense finish awaits both the teams onshore and those onboard. It could be a long night and morning in Marstrand and a replay of the Leg 7 finish could be on the cards, this one really is too close to call.
The fleet have spent all day trying to dodge the centre of the low pressure system and get into the Baltic Sea as fast as possible. It was clear that hitting the centre would not have a happy ending as Ericsson 3 discovered earlier in the leg when they were caught in the light air in the centre of the low, costing them 40 miles on the fleet yesterday morning. Green Dragon and Ericsson 4 started the day stuck to each other like glue and remained the most inshore of all the boats, until later this afternoon when they both followed suit and made a move offshore to make their way around the northern tip of Denmark. PUMA still remains the furthest offshore after finally escaping the centre of the low and breaking out through the west side of the system in a move which may still pay off for them.
Volvo’s Race expert Mark Chisnell filled us in on the problem the navigators faced onboard today, “The forecast at that stage had the low pressure heading for Denmark on more or less the same path as the remaining six boats. Everyone was expecting to end up on the western side of the centre, in the same northerly breeze as PUMA. The real trick was to do it in such a way that the centre of the low pressure overtook them to the north, so the wind just shifted through the west into the north-west and then the north, rather than enduring the hours of light wind that PUMA had suffered by getting caught in the centre of the low.”
Ericsson 4 and Green Dragon were thrown some extra work as they had no place to go but north due to their position so far inshore, and as a result they were forced to gybe down the beach in order to round the tip of Denmark. Telefonica Blue, Delta Lloyd, Telefonica Black and Ericsson 3 decided to toake another option and stayed offshore, battling the centre of the low, but with the potential of sailing a better angle to the tip of Denmark once through the other side. The fleet are now in a role reversal as Green Dragon and Ericsson 4 find themselves offshore, whilst the Telefonica twins, Delta Lloyd and Ericsson 3 stay inshore and negotiate their way along the shoreline. The first finishers into Marstrand are expected at 0100 GMT tomorrow morning.
Leg Eight Day 5: 1600 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) 332 DTF
2. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) + 3 nm
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) + 5 nm
4. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) + 7 nm
5. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) + 11 nm
6. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) + 15 nm
7. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) + 19 nm
Green Dragon Racing
Volvo Ocean Race
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