Ericsson 4 has won their second consecutive leg, crossing the finish line in Galway Bay at 00:54 GMT on Sunday morning. The boat should be dockside within about 45 minutes. Their elapsed time for the leg is 07 days, 10 hours 33 minutes.

PUMA is 21 miles from the finish, making 20 knots, with Green Dragon and Telefonica Blue pushing hard from close behind.

Share on Facebook

 

Ericsson 4 is back in her familiar position, leading the fleet by 13 nm as they scream towards Galway.  But, the last 24 hours have not been without incident.  The red sky yesterday morning heralded a warning, and, as the wind increased as forecast late yesterday afternoon, PUMA was in trouble, having just sailed into the lead.

Around 1800 GMT in an awkward sea state, the black cat broached.  There was a bang and the boat was on her side, the sails flapping wildly. The crew could do nothing to get her to back down away from the wind and it was clear that the leeward rudder had snapped off.   

“We quickly got the boat going downwind again by using the sails to steer, and finally heeled the boat to windward so the weather rudder would control the boat while we assessed the damage,” explained skipper Ken Read.  “Then, we had to literally stop the boat and take down the sails to fit our emergency rudder,” he said.  “We’ll race as best we can.  Our emergency rudder system is pretty slick.  Time will tell if we have more rudder problems.  We are all certainly a bit concerned right now,” he added.

 

The dreaded downwind battle has also brought disappointment for the crew of Telefónica Black, who led the fleet for part of this 2,550 nm leg.  “We got into harder running conditions last night and had to accept that our boat speed was not matching the others,” wrote a despondent navigator, Roger Nilson. 

Ericsson 4 slipped effortlessly past and then to add to their humiliation, the Telefónica Black crew could only watch as PUMA flew past, sailing more than a knot faster and a few degrees lower and, much to the annoyance of the Black boat’s crew, flying her biggest masthead gennaker in 25 knots of cold air.  Telefónica Black had been nose diving and had become unmanageable with the large masthead gennaker in the building breeze, and consequently, the crew was only able to fly a furling fractional gennaker.

“The Blue boat embarrassed us the same way as PUMA, but it was a bit more painful with PUMA as she was so close when she passed us – just a few hundred metres away,” said Nilson.

To make matters worse, flying up behind was Delta Lloyd.  “She was a dot on the horizon to the south, and a few hours later, she had disappeared straight in front of us.  She totally out-sailed us with 1.5 knots more speed and going as much as five degrees lower.  What to do?” questioned Nilson.    Their Achilles heel was hurting and there was no medicine.    They are now in sixth place.

Wouter Verbraak, the Dutch navigator onboard third-placed Delta Lloyd described the conditions as wild.  “Tons and tons of water are crashing over the bow as we accelerate down the waves and spear through the next one.” 

Throughout the night, Delta Lloyd opted for the relatively ‘safe’ set up of a fractional code zero headsail and a reefed mainsail, but when daylight came, it became clear that several boats in the fleet were putting the hammer down again. 

The Delta Lloyd crew faced a dilemma.  Would they be able to handle the boat with the A6 fractional spinnaker and be faster and lower, or was the sea state still too bad?  Would they be better to continue with their current set up?  Verbraak said they would be patient and wait to see how the sea state developed, but it is hard to hold back when the fleet is putting the throttle down.  “Pitch-poling [a scary wipe-out when the boat does a cartwheel] is expensive…,” noted Verbraak. 

Last night was an expensive time in terms of miles lost for the Green Dragon Team who, at 3am and on the edge of control in winds gusting to 42 knots, lost all their electronic instruments. “What do you do next?” asked skipper Ian Walker.  Was this a question that he expected answering by gaming community?  

Walker knew the answer:  “You pray the helmsman somehow manages to keep steering that fine line between success and failure.  The reality is that he will only succeed for a short while before a wave or gust catches him out, and sure enough, that’s what happened.”

All hands were called to shorten sail.  Down below was a mass of sleepy bodies trying to get dressed as the boat lay on her side.  On deck, the crew fought to regain control, while navigator Ian Moore went below to set about fixing the electrical problem.  “Why do these things always happen at night and in the biggest gust of the day?” asked Ian Walker.

Walker confirmed that minutes later the team was up and running again with no damage to the boat or sails.  This happened twice  more during the night and contributed to a loss of miles after good gains before nightfall.  The team is now in fifth place, 38 miles behind Ericsson 4.

Even this morning, Walker was ankle-deep in water as he sat typing his daily report to the race office and nobody was on deck without being harnessed to the boat.  “You need little reminder of why, as time and time again, people are washed down the decks.  On deck is no fun at night, but has turned into fantastic sailing by day,” Walker said.

The fleet maybe divided by 108 nm north to south, but on the leaderboard, the differences are minimal and only 50 nm separate Ericsson 4 in first place and Ericsson 3 in last place.  Twenty-four hour runs are approaching the 550 mark.  Ericsson 4 is currently logging 538 in the last 24-hour period.

 “This leg is setting up for an amazingly close finish into Galway, but wherever we finish, the memory of this leg will live with me. What we do in these boats is quite extraordinary,” Green Dragon’s skipper said.

Scoring Gate Order
1. Telefónica Blue at 03:11.24 GMT
2. PUMA at 03:12.04 GMT
3. Ericsson 4 at 03:33.05 GMT
4. Ericsson 3 at 04:06.02 GMT
5. Telefónica Black at 04:36.54 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd at 06:16.00 GMT

Leg Seven Day 7: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTL 702 nm
2. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +13
3. Delta Lloyd NED (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +19
4. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +25
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +38
6. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) + 42
7. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +50

Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Share on Facebook

 

PUMA Ocean Racing snapped their Leeward Rudder this evening and has replaced the rudder with the emergency spare and are proceeding toward Ireland.

Ken Read tells about the breakage in an email this evening “Why can’t we catch a break! We get ourselves into first and sail the boat hard only for a catastrophe to rear its ugly head again. This time in the form of our rudder – or lack thereof!

Sailing on starboard tack at about 1800 GMT we had about 28 knots of wind and were going pretty quick with an A-zero and full mainsail. The sea state was quite awkward. A ton of water was coming over the deck with each wave but it was no big deal. All of a sudden we got a pretty nasty puff and we were off. We were a bit on the edge and did a small spin out. I heard a bang at the back of the boat and hoped like hell that it was the runner block hitting the boom or something. It wasn’t. When the boat sat on its side with the sails flopping and there was nothing that we could do to get it back down away from the wind, it was clear that the leeward rudder had snapped off. We quickly got the boat going downwind again by using the sails to steer, and finally heeled the boat to windward so the weather rudder would control the boat while we assessed damage. Then we had to literally stop the boat and take down the sails and fit our emergency rudder to proceed to Ireland. We’ll race as best we can. Our emergency rudder system is pretty slick. Time will tell if we have more rudder problems. We are all certainly a bit concerned right now.

However, we can leave it to Capey [Andrew Cape, AUS] to lighten up the situation and get everybody back into the swing of things…. Here we are in the North Atlantic about halfway to Ireland and there is a loud bang and it is full stop onboard. Everyone is a bit pissed off. Capey comes out of the hatch comes with his duffel bag over his shoulder, and says “last time I was here I heard the same noise and then it was time to get off”. [He was talking about when the keel system broke on movistar in the last race and they sadly had to abandon ship. Eventually the boat was lost. It happened eerily close to our position here tonight when the rudder snapped off.] After a good laugh, the team onboard went to work and now we are back sailing again. I guess it is all in a days work. I just hate to go to work on days like this.

- Kenny”

Share on Facebook

 The breeze is up and the Volvo fleet is rocketing downwind towards a predicted finish in Galway, Ireland early on Sunday morning.  It’s the kind of sailing that everyone has been looking forward to and it is almost certainly the last time the boats will have the chance to show off their paces in the open ocean. 

“There is something magical that happens out here, miles from anywhere.  There is a definite edge to life that you don’t get racing in coastal waters,” said Rick Deppe, MCM onboard second-placed PUMA.

It is smiles all round too on Delta Lloyd, who are in the lead today.  “This sailing makes you want to do this race again,” said navigator Wouter Verbraak.  “The sailing conditions are absolutely stunning. Downwind, 25-30 knots, flat water and a red morning sun,” he said

But, the old adage goes ‘red sky at night – sailor’s delight.  Red sky in the morning – sailor’s warning’, and Wouter says the warning signs are already there. 

“A thin layer of clouds is steadily approaching and growing thicker.  The weather models of modern technology confirm the sailor’s rhyme.  They are predicting winds to build to 30 knots tonight and more tomorrow,” he confirmed. 

Ahead of the cold front, the crews are playing the fortunes of the Gulf Stream, which, if in the right place, can give a boat a boost of nearly three knots.  Scrutinising satellite images and recording surface temperatures gives a rough guideline as to where to look for the best current, the temperature gauge being the best tool as it shows the transition from colder to warmer water.

 “The trick,” says Wouter “is to find a good patch of current and try to stick with it by following its temperature trail.”  No fun for the navigators, who are constantly monitoring the situation and not able to sleep.  

Yesterday afternoon, Telefónica Black (third place today) was neck and neck with Ericsson 4 (fourth place today), running with masthead gennakers.  “The guys have just completed a back down right in front of us,” wrote a puzzled Ericsson 4 bowman, Phil Jameson, as Telefónica Black careered around broaching before eventually the crew sailed the boat backwards.

 “Look,” shouted Telefónica Black’s David Vera, “there is a big turtle stuck on the leading edge of the keel, unbelievable.”  One by one, the crew peered through the endoscope to see a three-foot full size ocean turtle trapped on the front side of the keel blade and desperately trying to free itself. 

“Fernando Echávarri was at the helm and doing everything to help free the turtle, swinging the keel from side to side and finally putting the boat into a full broach in the modest 15 knot wind. 

No luck, the turtle was still stuck, pressed onto the keel by 13 knots of boat speed.   “Let us stop the boat and back off,” suggested Echávarri.  The crew dropped the spinnaker on the foredeck, put the bows of the boat into the wind and, with the help of a staysail, sailed the boat backwards.

“There it is, just next to the boat,” cried David.  The crew could all see the seemingly unhurt turtle swimming around the surface in gentle circles.  “What a ride for the poor animal,” wrote navigator Roger Nilson.  “It looked happy and we waved goodbye and hoisted the kite and off we went again.  Just another day in the office… who said it is boring to be at sea?”

However, turtle incidents aside, no one is forgetting that this is the North Atlantic and gales here have caused the demise of many a ship.  This ocean demands and receives deep respect and the helmsman’s current smile masks a worried face as the fleet blasts towards Galway.  “Better get some good lunch in and enjoy the sailing on deck before it all takes a turn for the worst,” said Wouter.  “Keep your helmets ready, it’s going to be wet.  We are going in!”

Scoring Gate Order
1. Telefónica Blue at 03:11.24 GMT
2. PUMA at 03:12.04 GMT
3. Ericsson 4 at 03:33.05 GMT
4. Ericsson 3 at 04:06.02 GMT
5. Telefónica Black at 04:36.54 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd at 06:16.00 GMT

Leg Seven Day 6: 1400 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) DTL 1186 nm
2. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +2
3. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) + 3
4. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +6
5. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +9
6. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +36
7. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +46

Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Share on Facebook

Telefónica Blue continues to make her mark on the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 when at 0311 GMT today, she was first past the scoring gate off Newfoundland, claiming four points.  This comes on top of her recent wins inshore in Rio de Janeiro and Boston and her rounding the Fernando de Noronha Gate in first place on leg six. 

The crew of the blue boat had to work hard for their points and at first, according to skipper Bouwe Bekking, it wasn’t looking good at all. 

“For some reason, we had been losing ground and were in fourth place, a couple of miles behind the leaders.  We had been checking our foils regularly, but nothing to see. But, during one more check, Pepe Ribes saw something.” 

The team immediately sailed the boat backwards to clear the keel and then, the fight was on.  “Slowly, but surely, we reeled the boats ahead in,” described Bekking.  In the end, the team clawed past PUMA by less than a minute, crossed through the gate and tacked immediately to avoid the western perimeter of the ice exclusion zone. 

The fleet has a lateral separation of 14 miles from east to west and all are headed due south, all having crossed through the scoring gate.  They are currently 213 nm due south from Cape Race on the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the Canadian Island of Newfoundland, where the cliffs rise nearly vertically to 30.5m above sea level. 

The position of the ice exclusion zone is the reason for the fleet having to turn south and Telefónica Black, the easternmost yacht is parallel to, but 106 nm from, the western corner of the zone.  The fleet must now sail 175 nm along the bottom of the zone, while still keeping a careful lookout for ice, before they can swing north again.  The northeast corner of the box has today been extended to latitude 40 degrees west, due to ice sightings in the region.

Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker had this to say about their run for the gate “Today is a very good day. First and foremost we are out of last place and are less than an hour behind all the other boats after making big gains to the South.

Secondly the sun is out and although it is still a bit foggy, it is a wonderful spring like day. The sea is flat and the boat is dry inside and out.

Thirdly we have just opened the huge block of Award Winning Irish farmhouse cheese given to us by Good Food Ireland (thanks again). Sadly we don’t have any red wine to wash it down with, but we did find some spicey sausage to accompany it. It makes a welcome break from the freeze dried food.

Fourthly my head cold is subsiding so I can think straight at last.

Tactically we benefitted from a few boats reaching hard for the scoring gate and also from a change to the forecast which meant that being south was an advantageous thing. We always knew the first half of this leg would be very hard for us sailing upwind and reaching. Damaging the daggerboard on the lobster pots made it much harder. Our sole aim has been to stay in touch before the downwind sailing starts. The forecast is for all downwind from the second ice gate and for much of that to be in very windy conditions.

We have not sailed in close proximity to the other boats in weather like that, so it will be interesting for everyone. The whole leg is setting up for a grandstand finish in Galway Bay. Mind you if it is blowing over 30 knots Galway Bay will be a pretty tricky place to negotiate.

Meanwhile Ericsson 3 has hit a whale and did some damage to one of their keel fins.  Aksel Magdahl explains in his email today “Everything lined up perfectly for full points at the scoring gate until early yesterday morning when a couple of big whales appeared out of the thick fog. We managed to avoid the first one, but we only saw the tail of the next one as it dived just in front of us. We hit with both the keel and the daggerboard, and the boat came to a complete stop with some bad noises from our appendages. We could see that the keel fin fairings were damaged or off in a big area, but the daggerboard looked ok. We hope the whale got away only with some bruises; we did what we could to avoid it.

With the rough fin, we immediately lost our lead and slowly went to the back of the bunch with terrible performance numbers for the next 24 hours. When we tacked this morning, Anders went down to take a look at the daggerboard and it became apparent that also that had been significantly damaged in the impact. Actually, a piece of it was missing.

At the moment we have locked our radar on to Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd who are just in front of us, but they are slowly pulling away. Hopefully the frontrunners will get slowed down a bit rounding the exclusion zone, but the speed loss from the keel damage will follow us for the rest of the leg.

We have been worse off before in the race though, so spirits are OK.”

Scoring Gate Order
1. Telefónica Blue at 03:11.24 GMT
2. PUMA at 03:12.04 GMT
3. Ericsson 4 at 03:33.05 GMT
4. Ericsson 3 at 04:06.02 GMT
5. Telefónica Black at 04:36.54 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd at 06:16.00 GMT

Leg Seven Day 4: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions

1. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DTL 1863 nm
2. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +3
3. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +4
4. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +10
5. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +12
6. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +15
7. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +16

Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Share on Facebook

The Volvo Ocean Race crews are off to Galway after an Exilarating start this afternoon.  The boats made a lap around Boston Harbor and slingshoted off into the mist. After a short postponement the last open ocean leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 got underway today, starting right off the race village at Fan Pier, Downtown Boston. The Challenge and Adventure Team was out on the  race course for the start.

Leg 7 Start Images by George Bekris

(click on image to enlarge)

Share on Facebook

Volvo Ocean Race Boats At In Port Race Start (Photo by George Bekris)

Volvo Ocean Race Crew List Leg Seven: Boston  -  Galway

DELTA LLOYD
1. Roberto Bermúdez De Castro/ESP – skipper
2. Wouter Verbraak/NED – navigator
3. Sander Pluijm/NED – media crew member
4. Stuart Wilson/NZL – watch captain
5. Nick Bice/AUS – watch captain
6. Andre Fonseca/BRA – helmsman
7. Ben Costello/NZL – helmsman
8. Ed Van Lierde/NED – trimmer
9. David Pella/ESP – trimmer
10. Gerd-Jan Poortman/NED – bowman
11. Morgan White/AUS – bowman
No crew changes

ERICSSON 4
1. Torben Grael/BRA – skipper
2. Jules Salter/GBR – navigator
3. Guy Salter/GBR – MCM
4. Brad Jackson/NZL – watch captain
5. Stu Bannatyne/NZL – watch captain
6. Dave Endean/NZL – pitman
7. Horacio Carabelli/BRA – trimmer
8. Tony Mutter/NZL – trimmer
9. Joao Signorini/BRA – trimmer
10. Ryan Godfrey/AUS – bowman
11. Phil Jameson/NZL – bowman
No crew changes

ERICSSON 3
1. Magnus Olsson/SWE – skipper
2. Aksel Magdahl/NOR – navigator
3. Gustav Morin/SWE MCM
4. Thomas Johansson/FIN – helmsman/trimmer
5. Richard Mason/NZL – watch captain
6. Eivind Melleby/NOR – helmsman
7. Arve Roaas/NOR – trimmer/helmsman
8. Martin Strömberg/SWE – trimmer
9. Jens Dolmer/DEN – pitman
10. Anders Dahlsjö/SWE – bowman
11. Martin Krite/SWE – bowman
On: Arve Roaas/NOR – trimmer/helmsman
Off: Magnus Woxen/SWE – trimmer

GREEN DRAGON
1. Ian Walker/GBR – skipper
2. Ian Moore/IRL – navigator
3. Guo Chuan/CHN – MCM
4. Neal McDonald/GBR – watch captain
5. Damian Foxall/IRL – watch captain
6. Anthony Merrington/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
7. Phil Harmer/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
8. Andrew Mclean/NZL – pitman/trimmer
9. Ian Budgen/GBR – helmsman/trimmer
10. Justin Slattery/IRL – bowman
11. Freddy Shanks/GBR – bowman
On: Ian Budgen/GBR – helmsman/trimmer
Off: James Carroll/IRL – pitman/trimmer

PUMA OCEAN RACING
1. Ken Read/USA – skipper
2. Andrew Cape/AUS – navigator
3. Rick Deppe/GBR MCM
4. Sidney Gavignet/FRA – watch captain
5. Robert Greenhalgh/GBR – watch captain
6. Robert Salthouse/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
7. Justin Ferris/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
8. Erle Williams/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
9. Shannon Falcone/ANT – bowman/pitman
10. Casey Smith/AUS – bowman/helmsman
11. Michael Müller/GER – helmsman/bowman
No crew changes

TELEFÓNICA BLUE
1. Bouwe Bekking/NED – skipper
2. Tom Addis/AUS – navigator
3. Gabriele Olivo/ITA – MCM
4. Iker Martinez/ESP – helmsman
5. Jonathan Swain/RSA – watch captain
6. Jordi Calafat ESP – helmsman
7. Xabier Fernandez/ESP – trimmer
8. Pablo Arrarte/ESP Spanish – trimmer
9. Laurent Pages/FRA – trimmer
10. Daryl Wislang/NZL – bowman
11. Pepe Ribes/ESP – bowman
On: Iker Martinez/ESP – helmsman
Off: Simon Fisher/GBR- strategist/helmsman

TELEFÓNICA BLACK
1. Fernando Echavarri/ESP – skipper
2. Roger Nilson/SWE – navigator
3. Anton Paz/ESP – MCM
4. Antonio (Ñeti) Cuervas-Mons/ESP – bowman
5. Gonzalo Araujo/ESP – watch captain
6. Jaime Arbones/ESP – watch captain
7. Pablo Iglesias/ESP – helmsman
8. Javier de la Plaza/ESP – helmsman
9. David Vera/ESP – trimmer
10. Maciel Cicchetti/ARG – trimmer
11. Michael Pammenter/RSA – bowman
No crew changes

Share on Facebook

The Challenge and Adventure Team was out on the water aboard Privateer for the Volvo In Port Races in Boston on Saturday.

The day belonged to Telefonica Blue. They were already the most successful inshore team, claiming two wins, one second and a third from the four in-port sessions before today. This afternoon, in the light breezes their boat loves most, they led from start to finish in both races with more than a minute to spare at the end of each one.

“Good day, we did really well,” said Iker Martinez, their inshore skipper. “We are very happy. It might have looked easy but it was not easy at all.”

Bouwe Bekking, the team’s offshore skipper and inshore tactician, was in the mood for understatements. “It could have been worse,” he said. “We like this weather, but we still had to pull it off and we did. We made it a bit hard for ourselves on the second beat in the second race, when we had an easy lay and the chute came off. We had to tack back and reach into the gate mark. But we did well in difficult conditions.”

Indeed, the wind shifted by as much as 40 degrees during the racing, while its speed danced anywhere between five and 12 knots. A thick fog swept the course in the second race for dramatic effect. “Not easy conditions,” said Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael, a man who was also far from unhappy.

His team took third in the first race and second in the latter, a spectacular outcome given they crossed the start line early and had to return and cross again alongside Ericsson 3 and PUMA. It earned them second place for the day.

“Blue had a good day and we didn’t have a good start in the second so the result was good,” Grael said. “We were a bit unlucky in the first race. We had a very good start (before going left). Yesterday in the practice the left was nice so everyone wanted to go left, but it didn’t pay. The race is so short it is difficult to come back. The second race was the opposite. We are happy.”

The result means Blue reduce their overall deficit by half a point to 12-and-a-half points. “If it shrinks by just half a point in all the remaining legs I will be pretty happy,” Grael added.

Bekking remained bullish. “We beat them and that is all we can hope for,” he said. “We can keep trying and if we keep winning I’m happy. We just need teams to get in between us and them.”

For a time that team seemed likely to be Delta Lloyd, the born again heroes of this event.

For the second straight in-port event, Roberto Bermudez’s team bagged the final step of the podium. It could have been even better – they were second in the first race and held third midway through the second before falling to sixth – but their third-placed finish overall put a smile on Bermudez’s face.

Boston In Port Race Images by George Bekris

(click on photo to enlarge)

“It’s good,” he said. “We sailed well. We sailed magnificently in the first but the second was worse. We made a few bad manoeuvres and a few bad calls. But this is a good position. We need to continue.”

His navigator Wouter Verbraak was a bit more effusive. “It’s amazing, someone is looking over us,” he said. “We practiced and practiced and it paid off. Big boats are all about communication and we knew we had to improve that. It’s all to do with attitude and we are getting better all the time.”

There were further smiles on Ericsson 3. They have been a revelation offshore – tying for second in finishes and holding the spot outright at scoring gates – but inshore they had been the worst of the seven active teams, taking two sixth-placed finishes, one seventh and one “did not start”. Initially today did not look much better. They were sixth in the first race, partly the consequence of a Green Dragon foul that left them sat motionless for two minutes. And they crossed the line early in the second. However, in the latter they battled back superbly in the bigger breeze and took third.

Skipper Magnus Olsson was in typically expressive mood with the final allocation of fourth place. “It’s a big step forward for us,” he laughed. “From now on we will always be on the podium in the in-port races! In the first race we were so bad I fired everybody, but because I couldn’t find any new ones I had to hire everyone back so they can stay.”

Watch leader Richard Mason added: “A step in the right direction; got a monkey off our back a little bit in the second race result. We were miles over at the start which was a little disappointing in the second, but we hung in there and did well. We have some more steps to make, but it was a good step.”

Black were fifth after a fifth and a fourth, but skipper Fernando Echavarri was hardly overjoyed. “Not really happy,” he said. His team were second going into the final run, but they became entangled in a lobster pot line early in the race and he lamented the cost. “The second race at the beginning of the first upwind we hit a buoy with our keel and it slowed the boat.”

Ken Read was the most glum. The PUMA skipper had been on the podium in all four in-port races, but today could manage no better than a fourth and a fifth, which owing to other teams’ performances left them sixth. He crossed the start line early in the second race, capping for him a bad day in the light conditions his boat dislikes.

“Just a disappointing day,” he said. “If we were to write a script for a condition where our boat performs in front of a home crowd, this would have been last on the list. But we were a point out of third, that’s how close everyone was. But you make a mistake on the starting line like I did on the second race, you don’t deserve to be on the podium. You can’t make a mistake like that in this fleet.”

The result, helped in no small part by Delta Lloyd’s jump up the pecking order, has left them fall a further two-and-a-half points to three behind Blue.

Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker was seventh in both races and understandably disappointed.

“We could have done better,” he said, before recalling the incident at the first rounding of the opening that forced his team to do a penalty turn.

Share on Facebook