A clean race without any mistakes… a race that finishes for Yves Le Blévec and his crew with a win that they fought hard for showing both determination and intelligence. It offers Yves Le Blévec revenge in two ways: a revenge for the first leg, when they lost out by some 75 seconds, but above all revenge too after fate forced Actual to retire shortly after the start of the last Transat Jacques Vabre.

Right up to the finish, the pressure was on Yves Le Blévec. Even if, since the 0600 hrs rankings from this morning, the crew of Actual knew they were almost certainly heading for victory, the red and green trimaran had to cross the line before the skipper could express all his emotion.
Immediately, friends and family went on board, accompanied by Eric Loizeau, who raced with them in the first leg. An achievement that simply had to be celebrated by the four men, who were behind this success: Eric, Yves, but also Ronan Deshayes, who prepared the boat and sailed this time too, and finally, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, who brought along his skills as a trimmer and his experience of ocean racing on three-hulled machines.
A win achieved in several stages
Over the final miles, the trimaran flying the number 53, could be seen zooming along at more than twenty knots under gennaker with one reef in the mainsail. A few gybes later, Actual crossed the finishing line at 13 hrs 29 mins 25 secs GMT, after racing for 5 days 21 hours 10 minutes and 25 seconds.  In fact, Actual’s win has its origins back in the North Sea, before they made their way through the Dover Straits, as Yves and his crew made gains thanks to a small tactical option further west than Franck Yves Escoffier’s Crêpes Whaou ! 3. As they made their way into the English Channel, the two leaders were twenty-five miles apart, and hoping to close the gap, Franck-Yves Escoffier attempted an option close to the coast of Brittany, while Actual sought out the north-westerly wind that was forecast. The result of their respective strategies was that Franck-Yves’s red trimaran was some fifty miles behind by daybreak. Maintaining his sense of fair play, the skipper of Crêpes Whaou ! 3 admitted this was a do or die option, as he knew that it could worsen his situation… “It will either work out or be a disaster,” racers often say, as they make one last ditch attempt to regain control.
Franck-Yves Escoffier is due to cross the finishing line at around 1630 hrs GMT. Whatever happens, both crews will have contributed to making this race what it was and it should mark a new beginning in the development and promotion of the Multi50 class.
From the boats
Yves Le Blévec (Actual):  It’s difficult to describe. Obviously we’re very pleased. It was a really exciting race. On the outward leg as well as on the return leg. We overtook, got overtaken and overtook again. I’m just so pleased to be the first back to Saint Gilles. It was all really down to some small tactical choices. In the North Sea, we gained a slight advantage. We decided to continue with our option in the English Channel and it certainly paid off.
The crew really worked well together: Jean-Bapt (Le Vaillant), whenever he talked about us, called us the young ones. In fact, we’re really a crew of old-timers. It’s true that I sometimes am not in a good mood, but that livens things up for the others…”
Positions in the 1400 hrs rankings
- 1 Actual (Y Le Blévec) finished on 6th June at 13hrs 29mins 25secs
- 2 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) 67.3 miles from the finish
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 211.2 miles from the leader
- 4 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 349.3 miles from the leader
- 5 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 355.1 miles from the leader
- 6 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 410.9 miles from the leader
- 7 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 452.2 miles from the leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 525.3 miles from the leader

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There are three races going on within the race this afternoon. At the front of the fleet, the two leaders are making their way out of the Oresund Straits and will soon be choosing which tack to be on, depending now on their strategy and not the obstacles lying ahead of them. In third position, the crew of Crêpes Whaou ! 2 is just preparing to enter the famous sound, while the rest of the fleet are battling it out in the Baltic.

Sometimes a race is down to a small detail. Actual, who led the way from the start of this second leg, knows that only too well.  Ruling the waves and keeping their rival at bay, Yves Le Blévec and his crew chose a route to the west of the island of Gotland. Convinced they had made the right choice, they awaited this morning’s rankings to see how far they were ahead of Crêpes Whao ! 3. Only to discover that Antoine Koch, Franck-Yves and Kevin Escoffier, by passing to the east of the island had taken the lead. It may only be a small lead, but it was a difficult blow for the crew to accept, especially when they thought they had been doing so well with the various difficulties in their path. To a certain extent, that just goes to prove how demanding the standard is that is set by the two frontrunners.

The quest for perfection
This closely fought battle between the two leaders has of course, had a consequence concerning the gap they have achieved over those following on behind. Crêpes Whaou ! 2, in spite of all the hard work, is finding it difficult to keep up and can only hope the frontrunners will be slowed down at some point to enable them to get back in the running. As they round the tip of Denmark, their hopes may be partly fulfilled: the latest forecasts from Météo France suggest that the two leaders will encounter strong headwinds and rough seas, while those following them, may well experience better conditions.
Further back still, Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc) and his mates are warding off the attacks from a trio including FenêtréA Cardinal, Naviguez Anne Caseneuve and La mer révèle nos sens, who are now grouped together within three miles of each other. As on the outward leg, it is a close contact race that is now beginning for them, which is certainly more stimulating than having to sail alone. Solitude is something that the crews on CLM and PiR2 are probably beginning to feel. Hervé Cléris and his crew got left behind last night as they were leaving the Gulf of Finland, without really understanding the ins and outs of what happened. As for Etienne Hochédé, he is counting on his determination and perseverance to overcome all the doubts and demons at work at the rear of the fleet. Etienne and his crewmen already proved during the first leg that they were clever enough to make the most of the situation and enjoy sailing in these waters in the waters of Northern Europe.
From the boats
Yves Le Blévec (Actual): “We were surprised this morning. When I got the rankings, my first reaction was to say that we had gained thirty miles over them, before realising that number three was ahead of 53. We’re currently tacking in the sound. We’ve just passed under the Europe Bridge. Crêpes Whaou ! went her own way as they went over the tunnel. In any case, the situation looks very confused in the North Sea. Lots of things can happen between now and then.” 
Françoise Hanss (PiR2):  “We’re taking advantage of the situation as we have a lot of wind. For the time being, we’re not really suffering too badly from the cold: the floor is dry and we’re eating and we have gas. Paul (Coulais) thinks we’re on a windsurfing board and we’re really zooming along. We didn’t really know Yoann on the outward leg or Paul for the return leg before. So our race is also an opportunity to get to know each other well. Everything is fine on board… I’d like to thank everyone, who has sent us messages during the race, as it’s very touching.”
Ronan Delacou (CLM):  “We’re used to sailing with Hervé, as we’ve done about ten transatlantic races together. We lost some ground over Anne at the start and then the wind got up, but it certainly looks like it was stronger for those at the front. We’re passing the island of Gotland, which is very flat with strange looking houses and rather surrealistic buildings.  The cold? We’re used to it with Hervé as we’ve been up to the Arctic together to Spitsbergen. It would be nice to head up there now…” 

Rankings at 1400hrs GMT
- 1 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) 1077 miles from the finish
- 2 Actual (Y Le Blévec) 12 miles from the leader
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 59.7 miles from the leader
- 4 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 150.4 miles from the leader
- 5 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 166.3 miles from the leader
- 6 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 167.7 miles from the leader
- 7 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 169.8 miles from the leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 264 miles from the leader
- 9

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Less than 150 miles to go. Next to nothing for these machines capable of speeding along at an average speed of twenty knots. That is all that faces the two multihulls which have been leading this first leg since the start. In which order will they finish? Between Crêpes Whaou 3 ! and Actual, the gap has remained so small, that no one is willing to make any forecasts. Behind them, the wind, which has finally freshened, is enabling the pack to close the gap a little bit, which means we can look forward to a fight in the return leg…
They may not be spending their holidays together but these two just seem to want to stick together out on the water. Yesterday evening the gap between Franck-Yves Escoffier and Yves Le Blévec widened to more than twenty miles for the first time in the race. But that was only to last as long as a night in the far north of Europe… A few hours later, the green trimaran was back up with her all-red rival. The only thing we can be sure of is that on Monday we are to see the conclusion of this first act. Franck-Yves Escoffier, used to clear wins, remains fully determined in spite of his cheerful disposition. Yves Le Blévec is only dreaming of one thing and that is achieving his first win. We cannot question the motivation of each of the two crews, who are vying for victory. It is all likely to be done to a few little details: a puff of air that someone picks up, a little more experience of multihull sailing for one, a slight advantage in a breeze for the other…Who knows? Whatever happens, between these two competitors history is being made, just as each time two close rivals battle it out for the finish and show utter respect for the other. There’s likely to be a lot of lively discussions in the bar in Saint-Petersburg Yacht Club.

The gang of four

While third place is most likely to go to Loïc Féquet and his mates, unless there is a major upset on board Crêpes Whaou ! 2, the battle is raging for fourth place, and honour is at stake for the older multihulls. While we had imagined a duel between Pierre Hingant’s crew (La mer révèle nos sens) and Anne Caseneuve’s (Croisières Anne Caseneuve), two other competitors are now fighting over the remains of the feast: Lalou Roucayrol (Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc) has continued to assert the qualities of his multihull, when the breeze gets up. He has now given us proof of that by entering this battle for fourth place, after being more than fifty miles behind yesterday at the same time. In his wake, Erwan Le Roux (FenêtréA Cardinal) wants to show too that they still have that talent and determination. Erwan has just achieved two consecutive wins, as a tactician in the Tour de France Sailing Race, one of the most demanding crewed events in the European circuit, and it was certainly not luck that enabled him to do that. As for Hervé Cléris (CLM) he is not so far back and can still hope for them all to bunch up as he aims for fifth place. Only the  c r e w   o f   ÀR 2   f r e e l y   a d m i t s   t h a t   t h e y   a r e   o u t   o f   t h i s   f i g h t :   f o r   E t i e n n e   H o c h é d é   a n d   h i s   c r e w m e n ,   t h e y   a r e   j u s t   l o o k i n g   f o r w a r d   t o   b e   a b l e   t o   t a k e   p a r t   i n   t h e   P a r a d e   o f   V e s s e l s   i n   f r o n t   o f   t h e   P e t e r   a n d   P a u l   f o r t r e s s .   T h i s   i s   n o t   d o w n   t o   a   l a c k   o f   a m b i t i o n   b u t   m o r e   a   q u e s t i o n   o f   g e t t i n g   t h i n g s   i n t o   p e r s p e c t i v e   a n d   b e i n g   r e a l i s t i c   a n d   a l s o   m a k i n g   a   w i s e   c h o i c e .  
 F r o m   t h e   b o a t s :
 E t i e n n e   H o c h é d é   ( ÀR 2 )
    W e   a r e   d u e   t o   p a s s   t h e   E u r o p e   B r i d g e   f o u r   o r   f i v e   h o u r s   f r o m   n o w .   W e  r e   m o v i n g   a l o n g   n i c e l y   d o i n g   1 4 – 1 5   k n o t s . It’s not very warm on board the boat, as aluminium is not a good insulator and with the sea temperature down to around 8-9°… The end of this voyage is likely to be faster and we should see the full potential of our old boat. As soon as the wind freshens, she rises up on her foils and can start to achieve great speeds. But in light airs… I had thought of taking off the foils as they have slowed us down so much up until now.”
Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou 3 !)
“What was destined to happen is happening. We thought we had got ourselves a good lead last night and there you go, Actual is coming back at us again. This is going to be the umpteenth time we have found ourselves racing together. It all starts again with everything to play for. We’re determined to lead the way right up to the finishing line. We’ve been enjoying some exceptional moments: it was a fantastic night as we sailed along at twenty knots on smooth seas. Up here, night only lasts for a couple of hours. Yesterday there was a crescent moon. The moonlight, semi-darkness and clear skies… One of those moments that we’ll never forget, as it was so magical… For the finish, we’ll see. We’ve got a joker up our sleeve with Antoine (Koch) on board. He has just completed the transatlantic race from Concarneau – St-Barts, and is still hot and also an excellent navigator…”
Yves Le Blévec (Actual)
« Franck-Yves is a nice fellow: he always says nice things about you, but that isn’t stopping him from going that bit faster! For the moment, he still has the advantage. We’re going to try to keep fighting right up to the end. We took turns in getting some rest to be able to think clearly about this final stretch. We know that the slightest mistake could cost us a lot, so we want to be in good shape for these final miles. The race is fascinating and we’re also discovering some magnificent landscapes; our only regret is that we can’t stop.”
Reminder

ETA for the first two boatsThe ETA is now between 0400 and 0500 hrs GMT. A radio session with the winners is planned for 1000hrs GMT.  (You have to add on six hours of sailing to get from the finishing line to the pontoon in St-Petersburg).
Rankings at 1400hrs GMT
- 1 Crêpes Whaou ! 3 (FY Escoffier) 147.7 miles from the finish
- 2 Actual (Y Le Blévec) 6.1 miles from the leader
- 3 Crêpes Whaou ! 2 (L Féquet) 291.3 miles from the leader
- 4 Naviguez Anne Caseneuve (A Caseneuve) 403.8 miles from the leader
- 5 La mer révèle nos sens (P Hingant) 422.4 miles from the leader
- 6 Région Aquitaine Port-Médoc (L Roucayrol) 433.4 miles from the leader
- 7 FenêtréA-Cardinal (E Le Roux) 439.1 miles from the leader
- 8 CLM (H Cléris) 456.5 miles from the leader
- 9

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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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Monday 16 March 2009, A key point in the IMOCA Class’ calendar is announcing its new World Champion.  This time  the annual title goes to 32 year old Armel le Cleac’h.  He shares the IMOCA Championship podium with Marc Guillemot and Michel Desjoyeaux, exactly the same podium as the Vendée Globe, but the reverse way round.  Armel, skipper of Brit Air, has won his place by finishing second in both the Artemis Transat and the Vendée Globe. The Vendée Globe obviously carries the maximum points in the championship, and all 12 sailors that completed it will be rewarded accordingly.  This year the top ten rankings is made up of 5 French skippers, 4 Brits and 1 American.  Amongst them will be Sam Davies in 4th place who was the first Brit and first woman to finish the race. 

So at the age of 32, since winning the ‘Solitaire du Figaro’  in 2003, Armel has gradually but convincingly established himself on the IMOCA circuit. He is hoping to add to this recent accolade by winning the 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre.

Armel Le Cleac’h commented on winning :
« We are really happy! This title goes to the whole team who have worked together since the start of the project. Consistency reaps rewards. The whole way through the project our main aim was always to have a really good Vendée Globe and to finish in the best possible place we could.  We’ve finished second in the two greatest solo races on the circuit. That proves that we got our timing right, and had the right approach, even if we were denied an actual win.  As far as the boat’s concerned, we got it right, as at no point have we had to make any major modifications after any of the races.  I’m also really pleased that my sponsor Brit Air has made it as IMOCA World Champion after only three years in sailing. I’d like to finish by saying that it’s a great podium, I’m just in front of Marc who has vast experience and has one of the best boats and then obviously there is the winner of the Vendée Globe, Michel Desjoyeaux himself. It goes without saying that (sharing the podium with them) gives me a lot of pleasure.  I’m continuing this season with Brit Air and would really like to finish it off by winning the Transat Jacques Vabre for the first time. »

The 2008 IMOCA World Championship Top 10

1 Armel Le Cleac’h FRA  371
2 Marc Guillemot  FRA  368
3 Michel Desjoyeaux FRA  351
4 Samantha Davies  GBR  338
5 Vincent Riou  FRA  316
6 Arnaud Boissieres FRA  290
7 Dee Caffari   GBR  288
8 Brian Thompson  GBR  260
9 Steve White   GBR  256
10 Richard Wilson  USA  226

The 2008 title is made up from the coefficients from the Vendée Globe (coef 10) and The Artemis Transat (coef 4).
- Ends-

 

IMOCA Champions (since the Championship creation in 1991)
2008  Armel Le Cleach (France)
2007 Bernard Stamm (Suisse)
2006 Jean Le Cam (France)
2005 Mike Golding (UK)
2004 Mike Golding (UK)
2003 Bernard Stamm (Suisse)
2002 Roland Jourdain (France)
2001 Roland Jourdain (France)

EXTRACTS FROM ARMEL LE CLEAC’H’s CV :
Born on 11th May 1977, married with 1 child. He lives in Gouesnach (Finistère).

2009 2nd in the Vendée Globe
        IMOCA World Champion
2008 2nd in The Artemis Transat
2007 7th in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Nicolas Troussel
2006 Became skipper of Brit Air
        4th in The Route Du Rhum – La Banque Postale
        4th in the Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro
2005 Skipper onboard trimaran Foncia
2004 Winner of AG2R Transat with Nicolas Troussel / Figaro
2003 Winner of the Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro
2000 2nd in the Solitaire du Figaro
1999 Winner of the Crédit Agricole Challenge Espoir

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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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