Sport-heute: Sailing - ERICSSON 4 BACK ON TOP

19. Dezember 2008, 20:52

ERICSSON 4 BACK ON TOP

In the tussle to be first to reach the Volvo Ocean Race leg three scoring gate, a line that runs directly north from Pulau We, at the northern end of the Malacca Strait, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) has rolled over the top of Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and has a slim lead of eight nautical miles.

cochin-singapore (mk) Telefónica Blue made her move from the south yesterday but had to carry out two short tacks during the night, which gave Ericsson 4 the advantage. Ericsson 4 currently has around 65 nautical miles to
run to the gate, which she should pass through later today.

Kosatka Team Russia meanwhile, is laying the line perfectly and, as long as the wind doesn't shift, the team could be on course to make substantial gains from their northerly position, and their 88-nautical mile deficit could be easily swallowed up.

'If the fleet has to tack, how close we can come and whether we can overtake any boats depends on speed and the wind direction the fleet will have after tacking. We will keep fighting for every mile until the finish line in Singapore,' Andreas Hanakamp said earlier today.

The battle for third continues to be closely fought. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) currently holds third place, is holding off an attack from PUMA (Ken Read/USA) who is just four miles behind. Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) in fifth, a further 16 nm astern, is being hounded by Green Dragon eight miles behind. Speeds across the fleet are around the 12 - 13 knot mark, and, based on this, routeing software is predicting the first finish in Singapore on 22 December.

Meanwhile, after yesterday's damage to one of their keel rams, Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) is making slow progress, but in the right direction. Bermudez says, 'We are all well and the mood onboard is OK. We have the canting keel in the centre and we only have a small sails hoisted because we don't want to put too much pressure on the only hydraulic ram we have working.'

He added that the team had had some problems with the hydraulic rams two days ago. He said that the adjustments the crew made, to avoid losing oil, might have contributed to the failure. The team is still heading for Singapore.

'We will do our best at the scoring gate and the finish line and we will try to improve our position. My father used to say to me 'you cannot ever abandon a race'. We will try our best,' Bermudez said.

Leg Three Day Seven: 1000 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 633 nm
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +8
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +22
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +26
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +42
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +50
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +88
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +162

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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY 7 QFB: received 18.12.08 0630 GMT

Very sorry for the guys on Delta Lloyd, I hope that they will make it safely to Singapore. Once in the Malacca Strait, they should be all right and will have no disadvantage in the light downwind conditions.

We were very happy last night with our performance, gaining with every sched on the whole fleet. The boat seems to be quick in these upwind conditions and we can push the boat hard, not fearing any breakages (touch 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 speed and the wind direction the fleet will experience after tacking. We will keep fighting for every mile until the finish line in Singapore. Ericsson 4 shows impressive speeds whenever they line up with other boats and Ericsson 3 is not far from that, we all could envy them a little bit.

Less than a week to Christmas and no Christmas feelings on board. It is too warm, too wet, the lack of lights in the streets, Christmas songs and shopping orgies. Still I hope we make it in time to spend Christmas with our families in Singapore or at home.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY 7 QFB: received 19.12.08 1036 GMT

Grrrr, we haven't been able to hold of Ericsson 4, who always had earlier lifted breeze than we had. This has given them a more favourable angle to sail in...And go faster than us. We did two short tacks last nights, when there where small windshifts, which brought us more directly in front of Ericsson 3 and Puma. We are baking very small cookies right now, no time for big moves. We will try to consolidate our second place to the scoring waypoint, which is still an ok result. But we are not there yet, so nothing guaranteed yet.

For some reason the inside of our boat has become very dirty. It looks like black dust has landed on top of us. Maybe it is a sign we are reaching the normal polluted world again.

Talking about pollution, Gabri Olivo (MCM) is still doing all the compulsory samples of the ocean water. This he does every third day. He is having a little laboratory, with all little fiddly pipettes, strainers and small pots.

I always have to smile when is doing that job, as he is totally dedicated, I would have made shortcuts for sure, if it had been my job. It is not an easy task in these bouncy conditions to do this, especially since we have a low cockpit, so he has to take all this measurements half lying down, wearing rubber gloves and watching that the sweat, which is pouring off him, doesn't contaminate the samples. It would be nice to see some results of all the work he has done, and to see which ocean is the cleanest.

It is good news to hear that our friends on Delta Lloyd are making good head way again; they just have to nurse their puppy in.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race Stuart Bannatyne after a shower, on Ericsson 4, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 3 at sunset, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race Javier de la Plaza getting soaked onboard Telefonica Black, in no wind, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Sander Pluijm/Team Delta Lloyd/Volvo Ocean Race The Dutch/Irish entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) has suffered damage to the port side carbon structure around the keel ram. The boat was half way across the Bay of Bengal when the damage occurred, at 1930 local time, midday GMT. Skipper Roberto Bermudez de Castro and his crew are safe and boat is not taking on water.

Sergey Bogdanov/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Sailmaker Jeremy Elliot patches Team Russia's mainsail, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from India to Singapore