Today, Aviva, the UK ’s largest insurance group, announced a new partnership with Dee Caffari as the racing team’s founding partner. Following four successful years as title sponsor of the world record-breaking yachtswoman, Aviva will be reducing its investment but retaining a close relationship with Caffari who will continue to act as a brand ambassador for the company.

Dee Caffari is now actively searching for a new title sponsor to support her next Vendée Globe campaign.

Aviva has supported Dee Caffari to three world records since 2005, including the Aviva Challenge and the gruelling 2008/9 Vendée Globe race. Having completed both circumnavigations, Caffari became the first woman to sail solo, non stop, around the world in both directions. More recently, Caffari and her all-female crew broke the mono-hull speed record around Britain and Ireland aboard her Open 60 racing yacht, Aviva.

Sarah Loughran, Head of Corporate Sponsorship at Aviva commented:

“We’ve achieved some fantastic results with Dee over the last four years and Aviva is proud to be part of her team. Whilst we are reducing our involvement we want to retain a long term relationship and continue to be a part of Dee ’s amazing journey towards her next attempt to win the Vendée Globe.”

The new partnership will enable Dee Caffari to compete in the last race of the season, the Transat Jacques Vabre, a 4,800 mile two-handed race from France to Costa Rica . Joining Caffari onboard Aviva will be fellow Brit and Vendée Globe race rival Brian Thompson.

Dee Caffari added:

‘Aviva and I have built up a strong relationship over the years and I am delighted that their support will enable me to compete in the last race of the year while I look for a new title sponsor. The opportunity to sail with Brian Thompson as my co-skipper is fantastic. We were so close during the Vendée Globe we almost feel we have sailed together already. We’re determined to put in a great British performance..”

 In May 2006 solo yachtswoman Dee Caffari, became the first woman to sail around the world non-stop against the prevailing winds and currents in her yacht ‘Aviva’.  Caffari sailed 29,227 miles triumphing over extreme isolation, lethal icebergs, mountainous waves, vicious storms and hurricane force winds to set a new world record in a time of 178 days, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 15 seconds.

Vendée Globe 2008/9

At 13:13 (GMT) on 16 February 2009, Dee Caffari completed a double world first by crossing the official finish line of the Vendée Globe yacht race after 99 days to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world.

Round Britain and Ireland Record

On 22nd June 2009 Dee Caffari and an all female crew, including fellow British yachtswoman and Vendée Globe race rival Samantha Davies set a new record for sailing around Britain and Ireland – 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds. This was 17 hours and 16 minutes ahead of the previous record set in May 2004 onboard Solune.

Brian Thompson

Finishing fifth in the last Vendée Globe onboard Bahrain Team Pindar, this British yachtsman exudes quiet determination. Brian Thompson has an exceptional ability to adapt to a variety of circumstances and knows how to get the most out of everything that floats.

Brian has become a key crew member on a large number of both mono-hull and multi-hull boats and among his many achievements are the Oryx Quest 2005, taking the role of watch leader on the round the world record in 2004 on Cheyenne and the Columbus Route the previous year on PlayStation.

In recent years, Brian has sailed a great deal with his compatriot Mike Golding and raced the Artemis Challenge and the Rolex Fastnet race this summer with Dee Caffari and her crew onboard Aviva, finishing 5th in both events. Rightly considered one of the most experienced sailors on the international scene and holder of 25 sailing records, Brian will be looking forward to joining forces with Dee and racing with her rather than against her.

 

 

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Since it was first run in 1925, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s biennial Rolex Fastnet Race has earned a reputation for being one of the toughest events in the international yacht racing calendar. This has come about from the brutal conditions it can occasionally throw at competitors, as well as the complexity of the race course. Over the 608 mile long course, crews must negotiate tidal gates off the numerous headlands along the English south coast, as well as the open ocean as they cross the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock, 10.8 nautical miles off the coast of southwest Ireland, before returning around the outside (west side) of the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.

The Rolex Fastnet Race this year has attracted A-list sailors from around the world, and the strongest international line-up of grand prix race yachts amongst the 300 boats setting sail from Cowes tomorrow, Sunday 9th August. Peppered throughout the fleet are stars from the America’s Cup, plus the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe round the world races.

Racing out on her own for line honours will be property developer Mike Slade’s 100ft supermaxi, ICAP Leopard. Given the relatively light forecast, Boat Captain Chris Sherlock says that breaking the record of 1 day 20 hours 18 minutes, ICAP Leopard set in the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, is looking unlikely, but he remains hopeful. “It is a British summer – anything could happen! I wouldn’t write it off. We don’t need that much wind to average 14 or 15 knots.”

To optimise their boat to the conditions, they have had to shed a couple of crew and a sail, relieving them of about one tonne in weight in total. They will still have 24 crewon board, an all-star cast including New Zealander Brad Jackson, watch captain on the winning boats in the last two Volvo Ocean Races and from the America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand tactician, Ray Davies. “We have a few boys on board to give it our best shot,” continues Sherlock. “When we come up against Wild Oats and Alfa in the Rolex Sydney Hobart this year they will have an equally good crew, so we have invested heavily there.”

A new feature of this race are the IRC Mini Maxis and STP65s, the very latest breed of grand prix race boat and the battle between the four of these will be one to watch. Making the voyage from the US is the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, the STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT owned by Roger Sturgeon, which this week won this class at Cowes Week. The very newest is Beau Geste, a Farr-designed 80ft IRC boat owned by Hong Kong-based Karl Kwok and with an international team led by America’s Cup helmsman Gavin Brady.

Favourite in this heavyweight bout is probably the 72ft Ran 2 belonging to Skype founder Niklas Zennström, featuring many of the UK’s top professional sailors led by Volvo Ocean Race veteran Tim Powell. Ran 2 has made the trip up from the Mediterranean especially to compete in this race as has Luna Rossa, the STP65 sailed by Prada owner Patricio Bertelli’s Italian America’s Cup team. She features among her crew five-time Olympic medallist and Volvo Ocean Race winner, Torben Grael.

Torben Grael has competed in the race twice before when the Rolex Fastnet Race was part of the Admiral’s Cup and in 1995 won overall on Medina. ” It is a very traditional race which is sometimes pretty hard. The worst one was 30 years ago, so it is special long race. There are difficulties with the tide and sometimes quite strong winds. ”

For this race Grael is standing in for another well known Brazilian Olympian, Robert Schiedt and he only sailed on Luna Rossa for the first time this week. “I think light winds are not the boat’s speciality but she should be competitive still,” says Grael. “We will see what the forecast is for tomorrow. It has been bouncing a little bit – very light and then a little better. I hope we have enough wind to keep going.”

For the singlehanded sailors who competed over last winter in the non-stop round the world race, the Vendee Globe, the Rolex Fastnet Race is a sprint. Among the line-up is 2004-5 Vendee Globe winner Vincent Riou sailing on his old boat, now Arnaud Boissieres’ Akena Verandas, while 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper Mike Sanderson is reunited with his IMOCA 60, Pindar. Favourite is expected to be Seb Josse on board BT IMOCA 60, who won this class in the race two handed with Riou in 2007.

Other household names competing in this class are Dee Caffari, the first woman to sail around the world singlehanded non-stop in both directions, sailing Aviva, and Sam Davies, who was fourth home as well as being first British skipper and first woman in the last Vendee Globe.

” The Rolex Fastnet Race is one of the most respected races in the world, ” says Davies, who has swapped her Vendee Globe steed Roxy for the more powerful Artemis Ocean Racing. ” It comes in a list of great races that I am proud to have taken part in along with the Vendee Globe, the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Figaro. I remember when I was really young never imagining I’d even sail across the Channel and the Fastnet Race was something I was overawed by. ”

Similar to the IMOCA 60s, but smaller, are the Class 40s. The 19 strong line-up includes Portimao Global Ocean Race winner, German Boris Hermann on his new Beluga Racer. But the favourite is certainly Italian Velux 5 Oceans winner, Giovanni Soldini and his Telecom Italia, who this year won both legs of the class’ Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables two-handed race. Soldini is sailing the Rolex Fastnet Race four up with Italian America’s Cup sailors Pietro d’Ali and Corrado Rossignoli.

“The Rolex Fastnet Race is a very historical race for us,” says Soldini. “I heard about this race when I was a little boy. It is a difficult and tactical race – all the problems with the tide and quite often there can be a low pressure and a front during the course.” He adds that he is not looking forward to the light conditions forecast as his boat, Telecom Italia prefers stronger breeze. “The weather conditions are changing every day. Some days they tell you it will be 10-12 knots – that is okay. Other days it tell you it is 4 knots – that is not okay!”

While the high profile international grand prix race boats grab the headlines, the bulk of the fleet remains the smaller handicap classes and with the race sailed under the RORC’s IRC rating system, any of these is in with a chance. Among them is the 2005 winner, and one of the smallest boats in the fleet, Jean-Yves Chateau’s Nicholson 33, Iromiguy as well as the new Tonnerre de Breskens of 2001 winner Piet Vroon.

1979 remembered

This year’s race marks the 30th anniversary of the disastrous 1979 race when 15 competitors lost their lives in mountainous seas as the fleet floundered in storm-force winds. The chances of a repeat of this incident have been greatly reduced over the intervening years. For example, today all 302 boats are fitted with EPIRBs, GPS and tracking units so that the organisers know exactly where they are at any moment in time.

Commodore of the RORC, Andrew McIrvine comments on how the safety aspects of the Rolex Fastnet Race have improved: “At the least half the crew and the skipper have had to do the qualifying miles. They have to do a sea survival course and a first aid course. They have got into a liferaft and turn it upside down and turn it the right way up again, so they know how things work. But probably the most important thing that people really didn’t understand [in 1979] -they thought it was safer to climb into the liferaft rather than stay on their boat even though it had a broken mast or it had rolled over a few times. A liferaft is only something you step up into when you absolutely know your boat is wrecked and is going to sink.

“We know so much about the weather. In 1979 the weather came completely out of the blue. Today we have very accurate weather forecasting and that was why we were able to make the changes two years ago and say wait 24 hours. And of course all the way around you can be picking up the weather forecast on your iPhone. Navigation is much safer today. GPS wasn’t there [in 1979]. Back then we were using RDF and you plotted a big triangle on the chart.”

In addition this year the forecast is looking relatively benign. According to meteorologist Chris Tibbs the most wind competitors are likely to see in this year’s race is 20 knots.

“The main feature is the ridge of high pressure up through the central Channel,” says Tibbs. “Also we have a small area of low pressure approaching western Ireland tomorrow afternoon. The start will therefore be in a light northerly gradient wind, so hopefully we’ll get a light sea breeze to get the boats away.” Tibbs says that the boats getting down Channel will coincide with the depression moving across Ireland swinging the wind into the southwest bringing 15-20 knots on Monday lunchtime. “There will be a small cold front on Monday afternoon and then it is going to be a light to moderate wind beat from Lands End across to the rock.” Past the Rock the high pressure reasserts itself over the race course to provide a light northwesterly to get the boats back to Plymouth. “For any slow boats, there is another low pressure expected on Thursday or Friday swinging the wind round to the southwest to bring the last boats home.”

The warning signal for the first start on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, off Cowes, Isle of Wight, will be at 1150 BST with the Open 60s leading out of the Solent followed by the small IRC classes, the Class 40 start at 1340 BST, the biggest boats at 1400 and finally the multihulls.

Virtual Fastnet
Following on from the success of the games accompanying other major offshore races, so the RORC this year for the first time have introduced the ‘Virtual Fastnet Race’ game. In this, competitors from around the world can take part in their own on-line race in a standard 40 footer starting from the south side of the Isle of Wight (to avoid congestion at the Needles). With around 500,000 people having already played the round the world race games, the RORC are confident of achieving high participation for their race. As of Thursday, already 11,000 virtual competitors had signed up.

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Dee Caffari and her all female crew onboard Aviva crossed the finish line at 0840 hrs this morning to break the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland by 17 hours and 16 minutes. The journey took them 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds.

Skipper Dee Caffari commented:

“The outright speed record was always our goal and I am ecstatic that we accomplished our aim. In sport, as in many areas of life, choosing the right team is vital to success and over the last six days, Aviva has had a strong, focussed team aboard pushing her every inch of the course. We have all given it 110% and clear communication has played a key part in this achievement. It has very much been a team effort and having the other three girls with me has been a blast.”

The all female crew left Gosport last Monday 15^th June and crossed the official start line off Ventnor on the Isle of Wight at 21:09:36, before embarking anti-clockwise on their 2500 mile journey. With changeable conditions throughout the record attempt, Caffari and her crew slipped either side of the required record pace on a daily basis. A high pressure front in the English Channel saw Aviva slow significantly with 450 miles to go but, with enough distance banked under the more favourable weather conditions, Caffari and her crew were able to maintain a sufficient lead to finish inside of the required record pace.

Samantha Davies added:

“It was fantastic to be onboard Aviva for this record breaking trip. We pushed ourselves and the boat hard but it was definitely worth it to finish inside the record. I think I’m almost as exhausted after this trip as I was after the Vendée Globe – although that’s probably as much from the constant chatting as the sailing!”

Joining Caffari and Davies on board Aviva for the record were fellow Brits, offshore sailor Miranda Merron and boat captain Alex Sizer. In the process of breaking the outright record, Caffari and her crew also set a record time for an all female crew. The previous record had stood at 10 days and 16 hours and was set by Samantha Davies and her crew onboard Roxy in June 2007.

CONGRATULATIONS DEE, SAM, MIRANDA AND ALEX

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For her next challenge, Dee will be drafting in some girl power as she attempts to break the speed record for sailing around Britain and Ireland. Dee will be joined onboard her yacht Aviva by an all female crew, including fellow British yachtswoman and Vendée Globe race rival Samantha Davies.

Starting and finishing in Portsmouth, the route is almost 2500 nautical miles around the British coastline featuring some of the world’s most technical waters with ever-changing weather conditions, tidal flows and adverse land effects. Extra vigilance will be needed throughout the record attempt for shipping and other obstructions such as oil rigs in the North Sea.

  Dee commented:

“It’s been over two months since the end of the Vendée Globe, so I am really looking forward to being reunited with Aviva and getting back out on the water.  Although I haven’t sailed with a crew for a while, I think it will be great to have some company for this record attempt”

 The current outright record to sail around Britain and Ireland in a monohull yacht stands at 7 days 4 hours and was set in May 2004 onboard Solune. The record for an all female crew stands at 10 days and 16 hours, which was set by Sam Davies and her crew onboard Roxy in June 2007. With the potential to break two records, Dee and the crew of Aviva will be waiting for ideal weather conditions before setting off.

 

Joining Dee and Sam will be fellow Brits, offshore sailor Miranda Merron and boat captain Alex Sizer, Figaro sailor Isabelle Joschke and freelance journalist Johanna Payton. The all female crew will be setting out in June but are waiting for the best weather window before deciding on an exact start date. To see how Dee and her crew get on log onto www.avivaoceanracing.com for the most up to date news.

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As leg five draws out even further due to a complete lack of wind, the crews are longing for the finish in Rio and everything that it brings: results, families, cool beers, big steaks, showers, warm beds, and not necessarily in that order.

Ericsson 3 still holds her lead (DTF 424 nm) and although there have been a few blips in the last 24 hours, no one has taken any significant miles out of her deficit, and the chasing pair are due south of her. Ericsson 3 has only covered 172 nm in the past 24 hours and while Ericsson 4 has gained seven miles (DTL 65 nm) PUMA languishes a safe 154 nm astern.

“The light airs are making are lives a mess,” wrote MCM Gustav Morin this morning.  For many of the crew, their families will be arriving in Rio, and they wanted to be there to take care of them when they arrived.  For others, the chance of returning home for a break are becoming slimmer as time runs out with each windless day. 

“Since we are late in, most of the families will arrive before us and all the fathers onboard are talking more often about their kids and wives,” Morin says. 

Jules Salter, the navigator on Ericsson 4, has almost lost track of the number of days he has been at sea, and he is frustrated with the weather maps, which only seem to make part sense.  “When you expect a gain, you make a loss,” he says. 

But, he warns, “inventing weather is ‘bad science’ and expecting to know more than the men and women in beige at the weather centres is pretty dumb, but you have to try and do something.”

“If your hokum theory lines up, you can make a plan for the next few hours.  Usually the plan works for about two hours, then the wind shifts and drops and you are back to square one, trying to conjure up another scenario from your onboard observations.”

The real boat race now seems to be between becalmed Green Dragon (DTF 918nm) and the limping Telefónica Blue (DTF 983 nm), who has made a more sophisticated repair to the checkstays on the mast.  The team is looking for a surprise ‘comeback’, reckoning that Green Dragon is fighting more current than the maps show.

“Right now they [Green Dragon] are still well ahead, but it will be a good laugh if we could actually manage to pass them,” said skipper Bouwe Bekking, who has closed to within 65 miles. 

Unlike the other teams, who are rationing food and diesel, Telefónica Blue has been well provided for by MCM Gabriele Olivo, who even brought onboard a huge bag full of mature, three-year old parmesan cheese to add variety to the daily snacks as well as some grated pieces to make the freeze dried food more enjoyable. 

Not a day has passed when leftover food has been thrown away and there is enough food for the team to have extra breakfasts if they want to, something that would be the envy of the rest of the fleet, if only they knew… 

They do now!

Leg Five Day 39: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 424 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +65
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +154
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +494
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +559
 
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Cape Horn Scoring Gate
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points

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For Ericsson 3, the finish of Volvo Ocean Race leg five cannot come soon enough.  It is a question of watching anxiously to see what the opposition is doing – in this case Ericsson 4, and waiting for the wind to fill in to propel them to a first-place finish in Rio de Janeiro.  The team has covered a measly 189 nm in the past 24 hours.

With every three-hour position report there is a small loss or gain to be made and today at 1300 GMT, Ericsson 3 was on the up, having clawed back 15 miles from Ericsson 4 to extend their margin to 72 nautical miles.

Currently 246 nm off the Brazilian coast and parallel to Port Alegre, Ericsson 3 is making 9.3 knots. Ericsson 4 is right on her tail and still has wind, while PUMA is 401 nm offshore, and making 11.5 knots average, the best in the fleet.  In the next three hours, there will be losses for Ericson 3 and gains for the chasing two until they reach the light spot and slow again.  

Meanwhile further back in the field, the westerly course chosen by Green Dragon has led them into all sorts of trouble, allowing Telefónica Blue, who stayed offshore, to close the gap between them to 175 nm.  Bouwe Bekking’s newly invigorated team now has a real chance now of catching Ian Walker and his men.

It has been a chapter of misfortune for Green Dragon that began three days ago when the weather models showed a fast route.

“Next, the wind headed too much to lay the Falklands and we lost precious hours having to tack through the islands,” explains Ian Walker.

“Following this, a high pressure bubbled up right in our path and just behind the leaders.  Negotiating this cost us a day,” he says.

“Still things were OK as we sailed upwind looking for the northwesterlies and a new low coming off the South American shore.  This arrived last night as predicted, but instead of bringing 15 knot winds and a route through the next high pressure, it brought lightning and no wind,” Walker concludes.  The team is now struggling with virtually no wind and none forecast for three days.

To make matters worse, the team is battling adverse current and Walker says they will not be in Rio for another six days.   This has meant the rationing of food and diesel, which is used to run the onboard systems.  The team has closed down non-essential systems, but as for food, the picture is not so good. 

This 12,300 nautical mile leg has turned into something of an epic.  It is the longest leg in the 36-year history of the event and it is beginning to look as if an elapsed time of around 40 days will be recorded.  Food is now being rationed on all boats and the daily food bags are being re-organised, each time making the day’s food bag emptier. 

“I am sure we aren’t the only boat complaining of lack of food at this point, but we are starting to run pretty low and every routing run we do after we get new weather is showing longer and longer elapsed times,” rues PUMA’s skipper Ken Read. 

For Green Dragon, the situation is worse.  They started the leg with 40 days worth of food, which a week ago was split to make another two days of food rations. 

“When guys are tired and hungry there is nothing like food to create friction between them,” says Walker, who has split the remaining food 11 ways leaving each of the crew to manage his own food, to prevent any arguments.  “We are already hungry and it will get worse – simple as that,” says Walker rather matter of factly. 

The team onboard Telefónica Blue is hungry too, and drooling at the prospect of Rio’s famous restaurants. 

“The ‘all you can eat’ meat restaurant seems to be very high on everyone’s priority list, including mine!” writes Simon Fisher.  “Right now, just thinking about it making my stomach rumble.” 

There is just the small matter of over 1100 miles to go before they can tuck in. 

Leg Five Day 38: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions

Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 590 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +72
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +135
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +409
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +584
 
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Cape Horn Scoring Gate
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points

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It is an agonising time for Ericsson 3 as Magnus Olsson watches the rest of the fleet catching him as his team fights yet another high-pressure area, which sits between them and the finish of leg five in Rio de Janeiro. 

Over the past 24 hours, second-placed Ericsson 4 has closed the gap to 57 nm, gaining 29 miles.  PUMA too has knocked a dent in the deficit and is now just 116 nm behind Ericsson 3, a gain of 89 nm in 24 hours.  These three yachts are now 400 nm of the coast of Uruguay, roughly parallel to Cabo Palinio.

Green Dragon is still closer inshore, 210 nm off Mar del Plata in Argentina, which was a stopover in the 1981-82 Whitbread Race.  Their inshore move, while looking disastrous yesterday, has gained the team 78 nm, just as navigator Wouter Verbraak hoped it would. 

With just 771 miles still to run for Ericsson 3 before crossing the finish line in Rio and the safe haven of Marina Da Gloria where hot showers, cool beers and famous Brazilian food await, boat speeds are down to under 10 knots and yet the distance is tantalisingly close. 

Word from Ericsson 4′s Trimmer Horacio Carabelli about Life onboard “We are slowly progressing towards Rio and we still have a lot to go.  We just passed the projection line boarder between Brazil and Uruguay, but still we are below Montevideo in latitude, so in theory we are in Brazilian extended waters, which makes us feel a bit at home for Torben (Torben Grael), Joca (Joca Signorini) and me.

I’ve been sailing along this coast a good part of my life and normally to Rio is a light upwind trip at this time of the year unless you catch a front coming from south. Sailing itself has been pleasant in moderate winds, flat water and quite clear skies, much better than three – four days ago where we were fully dressed with all the underlayers we had available.

Nipper (Guy Salter MCM) has reorganised the food for the second time, every time making the day bag emptier, so it will be a painful 800miles from here.

The distance between the boats has changed quite a bit as we pass through the west of a high pressure area, gaining and losing on each sked.  It’s difficult to say what will happen in the end we have to deal with the approach to Guanabara Bay that can be very tricky. According to the planning we should be in by the 25th at noon, so if we are lucky we have three more nights left in the lady that had carried us by more than 12500nm!! I’m really looking forward to stepping on solid land at Marina da Gloria, have a shower and sleep in a normal bed!!

The only boat achieving a reasonable speed is Telefónica Blue, but she still languishes at the tail end of the fleet, some 586 miles behind the leaders.

Bouwe Bekking had this to say today in his email ” We are ‘lucky’, as we have tonight a breeze very close to being in the right range of our J4 jib. The last 48 hours we have been sailing in the so-called  no-mans-land, as we couldn’t have the right jib up, meaning sailing only at around 85% of our optimum. So even though it is a bumpy ride, we are making ok progress and the performance numbers are better, even though we are still on the wind.  Within a day from now the breeze will start lighten off , but lifting which means less water over the deck and probably better progress, as we can hoist our big code 0.

Two new nicknames have appeared:  SiFi (Simon Fisher) has turned into Sergej, as he starts looking like a Russian with his big dark beard, and Jordi (Jordi Calafat) into Rat, not sure were the last one came from. For sure over the next few days more names will get invented.

Jono (Jonathan Swain) nearly went nuts this evening, when he found out that somebody has eaten his chocolate bar. He has been going on about it the entire night watch, but it brought out some good stories as well. During previous races the snack department  was very small, and the crews way more focused on their part, so some really funny accusations happened  between people, so we highlighted a few and had a good laugh.

We just came of watch and stood with Xabi (Xabier Fernandez) looking at our PLC box and all wiring, and both thinking the same.  It is amazing all our electrical installations have been holding up so well in nearly 100 % humidity, thanks to the guys in Sydney, who have done a remarkable job again and of course to Matt and Eduardo who keep an eye on everything during the stopovers. Where would we be without electronics? It could be fun to sail a leg without anything, and to see how we all can cope with that.”
Current predictions are for a finish for Ericsson 3, provided she can hold off the advances of Ericsson 4, on Wednesday morning, with the other two podium places being decided later in the day.  Green Dragon is forecast to finish a day behind, in the afternoon of 26 March, while Telefónica Blue still has just over 1300 nm still to run.

Leg Five Day 37: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 771 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +57
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +116
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +335
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +586
 
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Cape Horn Scoring Gate
(boat/date/rounding time/gate points)

Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points

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The second high pressure system blocking the route to Rio de Janeiro has come into play for Magnus Olsson’s team today, and slowed them down. Both Ericsson 4 and PUMA have been able to close the gap yet again, with Ericsson 4 now just 86 miles behind. That’s still a healthy margin for the Nordic crew, but certainly less comfortable than what they had just 12 hours ago – Ericsson 4 has gained 40 miles over that span.

From Thomas Johansson – watch captain   “Hopefully the last tough night is behind us on leg five.  Fighting against a front and staying in it has been on the agenda many times on this leg. You may win a lot of miles by doing so, but if you fall short, the wind will back and you start to lose. This is why again on the night the 19th we had a blast in really mixed up sea state.

But we are human beings, not robots, so we too start to feel tired and we are especially fed up with these fights, due to the fact that it has been, most of the time, tight reaching instead of nice downwind sailing.

You have lots of speed, people are flying around in the cockpit and the constant water hosing makes you crazy. The only thing that keeps you fighting is the commitment to the team and the loyalty to others.

As a team you feel stronger and perform better during the tough times. But for now hopefully we can start to change to shorts and t-shirts. It’s been a long ride so far, all the way from Taiwan. Just waiting to get to Rio and get a couple of beers and meet my wife and the kids. But let’s first fight to the finish.”

From Guy Salter – MCM    “From Yesterday started in glorious sunshine but was still rather chilly. As the morning progressed we began to be plagued with thick banks of fog in which the temp really did plummet and in which you just got completely drenched.  Then, after an hour, you would suddenly emerge from
the fog back into a lovely sunny and slightly warmer spot.

On the horizon, the dark band of the next fog bank would be visible and yet again you would be shrouded in the low cloud with visibility diminished to a mere two boat lengths at worst.

We also saw a lot of kelp and weed floating yesterday and inevitably it ended up on our submersed appendages, so the ritual of endoscope, board lift and rudder clean became the norm. We even had one back down which didn’t really happen as smoothly as you would see in an America’s Cup pre-start – but it did rid us of the weed, so an overall success.

The big change yesterday, which has probably had the most impact on day to day life happened at 0200 UTC this morning when the breeze built and went aft and at a similar time the sea temp rose by about 7C to 17C. As we sped through the night the sea acted as a radiator and with plenty of water over the deck several layers of thermals have been returned to
the kit bags only for them to see the light of day at a Brazilian launderette.

At present we are running on port in a very sloppy and mixed up seaway in 14kt of wind and we are anticipating a gybe onto starboard with the weather predicting and relatively fast starboard tack into Rio – although I’m sure this will change and allsorts happens when you get
within striking distance of land!

I seem to remember Knut (Knut Frostad Volvo Ocean Race CEO and skipper of Djuice in 2001-02) and his boys in pink on the 2001-02 edition of the race coming from absolutely nowhere and going the inshore route to grab a podium finish into Rio and knock my team down a place.

Poor old Blood (Phil Jameson) has probably been the cleanest person on a Volvo 70 but has also suffered a fair amount from salt water rashes on this leg. I guess it’s due to the fact that he is constantly under water, I’m surprised he isn’t growing gills. His latest episode has made his top lip swell and unfortunately the rest of us can’t help but find it amusing – luckily Blood is as good as receiving as taking the mickey. He does look like he has had Botox (UK readers think Leslie Ash) and his mouth is similar to Homer Simpson’s.

On the other scale, it has been revealed that two individuals have been at the other end of the cleanliness scale revealing that they can count on one hand the amount of times they have cleaned their teeth! I would just warn their partners to bring some wire wool and a power washer as we have all noticed their dragon’s breath and we all haven’t washed properly since the start. I won’t reveal their identity but they are both from the southern hemisphere! The joys of offshore racing!”

From Simon Fisher – Helmsman “With Cape Horn now behind us the focus is clear – get to Rio as quick as possible!!  Everyone seems newly invigorated by our return to the Atlantic and spirits seem high.

 It is nice that we can finally count down to the finish of this leg now in days, not weeks, or week in singular at least.   Things too seem a little more pleasant now we have returned to the Atlantic. From start to finish we have had a beautiful sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky.  This evening we were treated to an amazing sunset and the temperature has improved a little as well making life just that little bit easier…

Earlier today we passed close by to the Falklands, to have seen land twice in two days is quite a treat!  Nice too to see something British too, even if there was some debate as to whether they should in fact be Argentinean! Needless to say the English speakers sided with the UK and the Spaniards with the Argentina!

Today too saw us make some gains on the guys in front.  We managed to close up the gap between us and the Green Dragons by about 100 miles.  They are still a long way ahead but to see the deficit come down a little as they battle with high pressure ahead gives us a little glimmer of hope of catching them and also provides us with some fresh motivation to keep pushing ourselves hard.  As if wanting to get to Rio after over month at sea wasn’t motivation enough!!”

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