Sport-heute: Sailing - ERICSSON 3 LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 0932 GMT

16. Dezember 2008, 14:45

ERICSSON 3 LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 0932 GMT

'How big chance is it to get two black and then one red in roulette?' 'What is the average speed if you go 50 km/h to Gothenburg from Stockholm and then back in 100 km/h?'

cochin-singapore (mk) You can tell when Magnus Olsson is bored. Or, at least, restless.

He comes up with all kinds of questions and smiles while waiting for an answer. If you for once answer correctly, you can be sure that he comes back with another one that you can't answer.

Talking about roulette, that is a bit how this leg feels. Easy to say when you are behind, I know, but I do think it is a bit is about luck. Yet we haven't been lucky and we haven't sailed very well.

Last night we were working hard with stacking and trying to tack with the shifts, but it hasn't paid off. The last scheds has not been very good, probably because the boats in front got out from the current before us. It has been quite extreme ever since we passed the first waypoint, more than 36 hours ago. It peaked at 3.5 knots in our nose!

But I think that we are in the groove now. We have come out of the current and are sailing in 10 knots of fairly steady breeze, doing 12 knots of boatspeed. I hope that it is our turn to use the 'bungee-effect', that the others stop in lighter air and we get the chance to catch up and get a restart.

Gustav Morin - MCM

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ERICSSON 4 LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 0857 GMT

It has been a pretty slow going trip so far. We might as well have left all our moderate to heavy sails on the beach for this leg!

The last 36 hours has been especially painful trying to get around the exclusion zone south of Sri Lanka. The current has been against us for a long time, up to 3.5 knots at times. When you are only doing four knots of boatspeed anyway, it makes for painfully slow progress. We have been trying to work out ETAs and it can be quite scary!

Food has already been rationed as we are expecting to take a few days longer. Spirits are good onboard. We are still having a bit of a laugh when it's appropriate. Ryan has been copping a serious bagging over his little rash situation. There have been many Ericsson 4 laws broken while he struggles with the rash. Nudity down below has featured more than once! Poor little b****r probably just wants us to leave him alone so he can deal with the problem quietly on his own.

It hasn't been too hot yet. The guys are still running their bunkside fans red hot though. It can be very tough when they break down. Diesel and water are getting used up very quickly. The diesel because of all the keel movements in the light air, and the water trying to keep everyone hydrated. You just can't drink enough in these conditions. If you need a drink, it's too late, you're already dehydrated.

Since writing this message, the breeze has built and we are on course again at 10 knots. Thank God for that. It will be interesting to see how long the puff hangs in for this time!

Phil 'Blood' Jameson

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GREEN DRAGON LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.11.08 0808 GMT

If there was a prize for tenacity then I think my crew deserve it. We do not have the speed of the Ericsson, Telefónica or Puma boats and it is not easy to see them putting miles on us whenever we are near them. All we can do is continue to squeeze every ounce of speed we can out of the Dragon and work hard on our steering, trimming and sail changes.

Eighty percent of this race has been a drag race where miles have slipped away but in the other 20 percent we have fortunately made good calls that seem to have kept us in the race.

The last 48 hours have been brutal with up to 3.5 knots of current against us on the Southern tip of Sri Lanka and light headwinds. Because of the piracy marks, there was no way of getting to shallower water and we finally concluded we had to take the somewhat drastic action of heading south to escape the current's clutches.

We had been sailing for hours making no more than 2 knots and often nothing towards the finish so we had to do something. We didn't really want to go south but had to bite the bullet. We also noticed that Telefónica Black had made some gains that way. So south we went and sure enough the current finally reduced and we started to pull bearing on the fleet. Both Telefónica boats have also done this nicely and have the jump on the other frontrunners. Now we are trying desperately to get back north a bit, so we aren't hung out to dry down south where lighter winds await. Still 3rd place at this stage is quite an achievement and keeps the spirits up.

There is not much to report on life onboard except it is hot and sweaty. I have only put my waterproofs on once and I suspect that might be it for the leg. Steve Hayles continues to do a great job navigating in very difficult circumstances and James Carroll is settling in nicely. There are no signs of any pirates yet but we have come pretty close twice to colliding with fishing boats - one incident in particular in the middle of the night was described by Neal as 'the closest he has ever come to hitting one!' - I guess that's too close for comfort then.

Ian Walker - skipper

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PUMA LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 0520 GMT

Have you ever run on a treadmill? Hop on, plug in your iPod. Watch the news.
Run for a while without getting anywhere and be happy about it? Get off with a good sweat and move on to the next set of workout gear. Well, we are on a treadmill and we have no other amenities, but we do have a good sweat going. The big difference is, we can't get off!

Welcome to leg 3, and the beginning of the 'beat from hell', crossing the Bay of Bengal. We have been rounding the southern tip of Sri Lanka for what seems like a week now, and it is getting tiring. The fleet is all in the same boat though. Light headwinds and lots of current on the nose - two knots for well over a day. Doesn't Mother Nature understand that we have Christmas dinner waiting at the other end and we have to make it on time?

On board we do have one crisis brewing. Not of the boat breaking or injury kind, but maybe worse... We forgot our spoons...

Think about it, we are minimalists. We have nothing spare to speak of and eating is something we look forward to all hours of the day. Burning the calories that we burn even in light air, we need to eat.

Fortunately, we had one dinner that was pre prepared pasta for our first night and it came with about 15 small plastic forks. No problem you might think. These guys are set and plastic forks are lightweight as well! Not so fast. We can now attest to the fact that India is certainly not known for the quality of their plastic forks. One piece of plastic at a time; they are slowly breaking to bits. You know when it has happened when you hear a groan from the galley area. Typically followed by a traditional Kiwi or Australian saying like 'I've had a shocker!' That is translated in English to 'I just took a bite of my mash potatoes and dog food mix and came out of the bowl with either half a plastic fork or missing a couple sporks (if there is such a word) on the end.'

Bottom line, we are down to about five usable forks, each with 'sporks' missing. We need a plan B.

Some suggestions so far include using your sunglasses (gross). Using power tools (because that got us out of our mess in the last leg but somehow I just don't see it). The brim of a hat (yuck). And the old favourite...just dig in your hand and don't worry about it - making freeze-dried food just that much more of a delicacy.

I will report on the final conclusion because we aren't too far away. But for now, back on the treadmill trying to get east and trying to break free into the breeze that awaits us up north. Somehow. We have to make Christmas or I know I am going to have a sad little girl on my hands for one. My guess is that the entire fleet feels exactly the same way.

Kenny Read - skipper
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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 1258 GMT

Hi there,

The last few days seem to have been unbelievably busy and yet so far in this leg we have only covered a few more miles than we could probably achieve in a day!

We spent much of the last 24 hours battling a massive amount of current, which was somewhat akin to spending all day running frantically on a treadmill. After many days spent in the gym last year I can tell you that I am not that fond of running on a treadmill and now, after 24 hours of battling 3-4 knots of current, I have decided that it's not that much more fun doing the nautical version either! The lack of progress has been a little frustrating but that said, we have being going quite well and the battle with the other boats has kept us on our toes and pushing hard.

Sleep has been somewhat scarce too as there have been lots of sail changes so far, imaginary marks to round and the wind constantly going up and down with all of this going on in sight of much of the fleet. It would be hard to imagine much closer racing right now. The few miles separation we have established between the boats now has given us a little breathing space, but will not let the pressure off at all.

Luckily, I managed to grab a few hours sleep somewhat sporadically over the course of last night, though, having found a nice comfy spot on top of one of the spinnakers. It would seem that did the trick and today, rather than feeling weary, I have been ready for battle once more. Just as well really, as the wind has continued shifting constantly and each sail change seems to be separated by minutes rather than hours! However, time to relax is not upon us yet - It looks like we are in for some more fun and games tonight as well as we have to manoeuvre our way through a trough of low pressure with the hope of finding somewhat more consistent breeze on the other side.

Cheers, for now,

Simon Fisher - navigator

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TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB: received 16.12.08 1157 GMT

Hi all
It has been another quiet night, all the boats are in a pack, and the leading Telefónica Blue is now 7 miles ahead of us. We can see her as well as the Puma, and Green Dragon is also at sight behind us. The wind was expected to pay from the north, and with a little more intensity, but it has proved again not to be correct, so with this tricky winds we are all very patient and without making very sharp moves which may take you from a comfortable position to holding the
wooden spoon. So concentrating on the boat and speed to trying to get to those trade winds as fast as possible and get rid of the current, which yesterday was up to nearly three knots against us!

The last position report shows both TELEFÓNICA boats leading the leg, with the Blue some 9 miles ahead of the BLACKIES, all of us heading east as fast as we can, but for the moment, we are rather inhibited due may be to a low in front of us. Anyway, spirits are high on board as we are in a good position and it seems the food is nice as well!

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

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Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Rob Greenhalgh onboard il mostro at sunset, at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Casey Smith enjoys his last real meal onboard il mostro, at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race