Volvo Ocean Race, volti noti al comando
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingTeam Delta LloydTeam RussiaVelaVolvo Ocean Race 19 Dicembre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=1138,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Cochin – Mentre il Team Delta Lloyd avanza con passo ridotto ma costante nonostante il grave problema stutturale manifestatosi ieri pomeriggio, la battaglia per la testa della regata si fa più serrata che mai. Nel corso della notte, infatti, Telefonica Blue, per raggiungere la layline che lo condurrà al cancello, è stato costretto a tirare un altro bordo verso nord. Una virata costata cara al leader, sopravanzato in men che non si dica da Ericsson 4, premiato dall’opzione nord.
A meno di imprevisti salti di vento, la situazione di qui allo scoring gate dovrebbe restare immutata. La flotta, se si escludono Team Russia e Team Delta Lloyd, entrambi molto attardati, è piuttosto compatta – Ericsson 3 e Puma sono in contatto con la coppia di testa – ed è ormai a meno di dieci ore dalla punta nord di Palau We.
Una volta scapolato il promontorio, i VOR 70 si lanceranno nella discesa lungo lo stretto di Malacca, dove tra venti evanescenti, traffico mercantile e rischio pirati ci sarà davvero da tenere gli occi aperti.
Leg 3, day 6, 07.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 671 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +6 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +20 nm
4 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +24 nm
5 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +39 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +43 nm
7 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +88 nm
8 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +154 nm
Per seguire la regata sul Race Tracker clicca qui.
FAMILIAR FACES AT THE FRONT
[singlepic=1137,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] With the situation on board stabilised following the dramatic accounts of damage to one of the keel rams on Delta Lloyd yesterday, attention again shifts back to the race course.
The leaders are 130 miles from the scoring gate, which runs directly north from Palau We. The battle for top honours at the gate is still between Ericsson 4 and Telefonica Blue, but overnight Torben Grael’s Ericsson crew grabbed top spot when Bouwe Bekking’s men threw in a tack to the north.
Telefonica Blue was always going to need to get north to lay the gate and at shortly before 19.00 GMT yesterday, the team made its move. At the time, Ericsson 4 was trailing by four miles on distance to finish. By the 22.00 report, Blue had tacked back to an easterly heading and the boats were evenly matched, but by 04.00 this morning Ericsson 4 was ahead by three miles.
Their real lead may be higher. Grael and co. are still 15 miles further north than Telefonica Blue. On their current headings, neither team appears as if it will lay the gate. The northerly leverage that Ericsson 4 enjoys will likely be converted into an additional lead if both boats need to tack to make the gate.
Fighting for third
Behind the top pair, a close battle remains for third place. Just 23 miles separate Ericsson 3 (third) from Green Dragon (sixth), with Puma and Telefonica Black sandwiched in between. Green Dragon is in sixth place on the leaderboard, but as the boat furthest to the north, they may gain if the others are forced to tack for the gate.
“We can almost sail straight towards the waypoint on port tack, but in the end it looks like we will end up in the lightspot south of the scoring gate,” wrote Aksel Magdahl, navigator on Ericsson 3. “It is very expensive to get north at this stage, but expect us to try to utilise some small shifts to get up on that layline. There will also be plenty of boat-on-boat tactics going on; we just tacked twice to cover Puma on a small shift.”
Another boat to watch over the course of the day is Team Russia. Positioned well to the north, they Russians are the only boat in the fleet that appears safe on the layline (assuming no shifts) for the scoring gate. If the fleet in front has to tack north to get around Palau We, Team Russia is going to make significant gains. Andreas Hanakamp’s team is 85 miles behind the leader, and 43 miles back of Green Dragon, but those numbers should fall dramatically over the course of the next 18 hours or so.
“We were very happy last night with our performance, gaining with every sched on the whole fleet,” writes Andreas Hanakamp this morning. “The boat seems to be quick in these upwind conditions and we can push the boat hard, not fearing any breakages (knock on wood again and again). It seems we are laying the mark and the fleet will have to tack, how close we can come and whether we can overtake any boats depends on the speed and the wind direction the fleet will experience after tacking.”
Slow, steady and safe
Not surprisingly, considering their problems yesterday, Delta Lloyd is dropping miles to the entire fleet. The team is sailing at about 75%, making nearly 10 knots when the others are sailing 12 or 13. Their situation appears stable and the team will continue towards the scoring gate and the Malacca Strait, where the change to reaching conditions should make life easier.
“It was a very scary moment onboard, but it was great to see the entire team handle the emergency in a calm and professional way,” wrote navigator Matt Gregory. “We are fortunate to be able to continue east towards Singapore. However, every wave that we crash into is a bit more worrisome than normal. Hopefully we can get the boat safely to the Malacca Straights in one piece. For now we are happy to be safe, which is always our first priority.”
Leg 3, day 6, 07.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 671 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +6 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +20 nm
4 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +24 nm
5 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +39 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +43 nm
7 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +88 nm
8 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +154 nm
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