Sport-heute: Sailing - Green Dragon in Rio

30. März 2009, 21:41

Green Dragon in Rio

Ein grosses Lebensmittelproblem gab es auf der Green Dragon. In den letzten Wochen hatten wir davon einfach zu wenig. Das schlägt nicht nur auf den Magen, sondern auch auf die Mannschaft. Die letzten 10 Tage waren kaum auszuhaltent. Jetzt gibt es aber ein feines Steak und gut zu Futtern. Ankunft des grünen Drachens war der Samstag 15.59 Ortszeit - 18949 GMT.

Volvo Ocean Race, 30.3.09 (mk) HUNGRY DRAGONS TAKE FOURTH PLACE

Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker/GBR led his hungry crew over the finish line outside the Marina da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon to claim fourth place in Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Crossing the finish line at 18:59 GMT (15:59 local time) the Irish/Chinese team finished the longest leg in the history of the race with an elapsed time of 42 days 13 hours and 59 minutes.

It’s been a long leg for the Green Dragon crew, made all the more difficult by the team running low on both food and fuel during the final week. In fact, the team had to re-fuel before it could bring the boat into the marina.

“It’s been a hard 10 days – these last 10 days,” Walker said once his boat was safely dockside. “We just had to stick at it. It feels like quite an achievement to sail 12,500 miles! Getting around Cape Horn was always something I wanted to do, but getting here and having a steak sandwich is the highlight right now.”

Navigator Wouter Verbraak, who started the Volvo Ocean Race with Team Russia, is scheduled to join Delta Lloyd for Leg 6. But for the longest stage of the race, he has been with Green Dragon, replacing Ian Moore for the leg.

“It’s been a real leg of extremes. I thought I’d seen highs and lows on the other legs, but this is such a marathon,” he said. “You go from one dip to the next mountain. For us as a team it’s been really good to keep coming back until the very end.”

The fourth place finish means the team collects 5 points towards its total on the overall leaderboard. Green Dragon sits in fifth place, four points behind Leg 5 winner Ericsson 3.

Telefonica Blue is the only boat in the fleet still at sea. At the time of Green Dragon’s finish, Bouwe Bekking’s squad had 39 miles left to run, with a predicted ETA near midnight tonight.

Leg Five Finishing Order Rio
1. Ericsson 3: 8 points
2. Ericsson 4: 7 points
3. PUMA: 6 points
4. Green Dragon: 5 points

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) 63.5 points (FINISHED)
2. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) 53 points (FINISHED)
3. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 46.5 points (RACING)
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 43.5 (FINISHED)
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) 39.5 (FINISHED)

6. Telefónica Black 21 (DNS)
7. Delta Lloyd 12 (DNS)
8. Team Russia 10.5 (DNS)

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TELEFONICA BLUE FINISH IT OFF

At 03:55 GMT, in the early hours (00:55 local time) of a rainy Sunday morning, Telefónica Blue eased across the finish line off the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro to take fifth place in leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The elapsed time for leg five for Telefónica Blue was a daunting 42 days, 22 hours and 55 minutes.

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be for skipper Bouwe Bekking/NED and his team. Following two consecutive leg wins, Tom Addis was promoted from strategist to navigator. And after changing to larger rudders for this leg, the Telefónica Blue squad had high hopes of closing the gap with the front-running Ericsson 4.

But before the race had started, the team ran aground on a submerged rock outside the harbour in Qingdao. Skipper Bekking quickly made the decision not to take the start and instead Telefónica Blue returned to the Olympic harbour in Qingdao where the boat was hauled out for the damage to be assessed.

In the event, there was no structurally significant damage and the team resumed racing just shy of 19 hours after the start of the leg. From then onwards, the Telefónica Blue was on the back foot.

They fought hard to get back into the mix with the rest of the fleet, but 20 days into the leg, a broken forestay forced the team to make heroic efforts to save the mast from tumbling down, but at that point, their competitive hopes in leg five were all but extinguished as the team was restricted to using smaller headsails.

A late charge on the final section of the race course brought the team within hours of fourth-placed Green Dragon, but to no avail – four points, from a fifth place finish drops the team to third place on the overall leaderboard behind Ericsson 4 and PUMA.

“I think we have a really good chance actually,” Bekking said when asked about the impact of this leg on the overall leaderboard. “I think Ericsson 4 will be scratching their heads a little bit because they haven’t been winning the last three legs. They are definitely beatable I think.”

Leg Five Finishing Order – Rio de Janeiro
1. Ericsson 3: 8 points
2. Ericsson 4: 7 points
3. PUMA: 6 points
4. Green Dragon: 5 points
5. Telefonica Blue: 4 points

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) 63.5 points (FINISHED)
2. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) 53 points (FINISHED)
3. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 50.5 points (FINISHED)
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 43.5 (FINISHED)
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) 39.5 (FINISHED)
6. Telefónica Black 21 (DNS)
7. Delta Lloyd 12 (DNS)
8. Team Russia 10.5 (DNS)

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Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker (GBR) finish fourth into Rio de Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the line at 18:59:40 GMT 28/03/09

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker (GBR) finish fourth into Rio de Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the line at 18:59:40 GMT 28/03/09

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Watch Captain Damian Foxall (IRE) Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker (GBR) finish fourth into Rio de Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the line at 18:59:40 GMT 28/03/09

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker (GBR) (pictured) finish fourth into Rio de Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the line at 18:59:40 GMT 28/03/09