Sport-heute: Sailing - GREEN DRAGON LEG TWO DAY 16 QFB: received 30.11.08 0509 GMT

01. Dezember 2008, 09:55

GREEN DRAGON LEG TWO DAY 16 QFB: received 30.11.08 0509 GMT

TELEFÓNICA BLUE TAKES SECOND PODIUM POSITION

It was a very close run thing, but we finally managed to escape from the clutches of the doldrums ahead of the impending calm in the weather files. My heart goes out to Team Russia who seems to have befallen the fate that I feared yesterday - possibly up to another week of light winds.

(mk) A smart tactical decision by Ian Moore last night to drive low into the right-hander has saved us some miles and kept a slender lead for us over Delta Lloyd. We have now hooked into this North Easterly and we have just tacked alongside Puma.

We had relinquished our position to them after a 2-day fight, but through the night under code zero, they sailed from 2 miles behind to 2 miles in front in a straight line. This is hard to take after 15 days at sea but, hopefully, we will get a shot at them before the end as we approach the land.

The only other point of note today is that the rancid fish smell in the cockpit that we thought we had got rid of when we found a flying fish in the halyard tunnel did not go away and thank God today we found a week old squid that was the culprit - it got washed out of the tunnel in a big wave and the smell has now gone. One unlucky flying fish also managed to leap out of the sea today and land in one of our cockpit bags - Phil heard him flapping around and returned him to the sea. Fortunately, Phil is not scared of fish like one of our crew!

News of the terrorist attacks in our next arrival country, India, has reached us by e-mail and we are all both saddened and concerned. This helps put losing a position in a sailing race into perspective and our thoughts go out to all those who have suffered losses. Personally, I am looking forward to my first visit to India although the news that December 1st, when we are now scheduled to arrive, is 'national no drinking day' may come as a shock to a few lads onboard who deserve a beer.

Ian Walker - skipper

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 16 QFB: received 30.11.08 0600 GMT

Hopefully, we have used are last change at the parking metre, as parking up is bad for the nerves. And boy, we parked up badly, but then everybody gets their fair share in the last part of the race.

Congratulations to Ericsson 4 for their win, a big leg for them, scoring full points.

So here we are 2 miles of the India coastline, short beating against a northerly breeze, making lots of miles through the water, but since the angles are so bad, the miles to the finish are horrible. We just have to patient. We have chosen for the coast so that at least we get a bit of sea breeze, better a little breeze than no breeze at all, and offshore it doesn't look that flash, so we are sticking to our guns.

As well, the other boats behind us are all east of us, and they still can't sail over land, how much they would have liked. So they have to follow more or less the same path. And rule number one in sailing is stay in between the finish and the opposition. Easy on paper, but even that we have a nice buffer, we are still not feeling comfortable. As Jono (Jonathan Swain/RSA) says, it doesn't matter how close they come, if we beat them by 1 centimetre, that is enough and that counts.

On the nature front, there are things happening again. Plenty of dolphins and other fish jumping around. And the coastline looks appealing, with lots of white beaches. We sailed through a fleet of fishing boats this morning, and yes, a dinghy was launched and came sailing full speed towards us. Only two guys onboard, told my guys just take it easy, they are just fisherman.

They sailed right next to us, 1 metre separated their wooden clunker with our high tech hull, one touch and for sure, we would have severe damage. But the guy on the helm was pretty handy, so didn't start arguing. They asked where we were from: 'Spain', shouted Pepe, they shook their heads. 'Real Madrid, Barcelona': were his next words. Ah ha these words rang the bell for them. They asked for cigarettes, but we are non-smokers, and even if we had them, I wouldn't give them, because next thing the entire fishing fleet will surround and beg. These promises something for the Malacca Straits, where you can nearly jump from one fishing boat to another, so many there are there. But that is next leg, let's first finish this one.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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