Magnus Olsson/SWE and his team are fully focussed on driving Ericsson 3 hard through the grey/green Southern Ocean, straight towards the western end of the second ice gate at lattitude 45 degrees south. They are expected to cross in a little over 24 hours. Their lead is now 272 nm ahead of Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and the deficits among the fleet are now the highest seen so far in the Volvo Ocean Race.
The leading trio, Ericsson 3, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and PUMA (Kenny Read/USA) are rattling east-southeast, set up to cross the gate at the western end from north to south, while the two southerly boats, Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) and Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) will clip the eastern end.
However, one by one, the boats are dropping off the conveyor belt that is carrying them towards Cape Horn and the talk onboard the chasing pack is of Ericsson 3 slowing down too and the hope of clawing back lost miles. While Ericsson 3 is still averaging 22 knots, the rest of the fleet are now down to 20 knots or less.
At 48 degrees south, Telefónica Blue now races in a different weather system and there is significant risk that they will take a lot longer for the team to reach the ice gate.
In their path is a ridge of high pressure, which will require dramatic action and the next 12 hours will be critical. The team has managed to make a new repair to the temporary patch on their mainsail, which had led the team to sail with the mainsail reefed.
Onboard Green Dragon, just one degree further south, but 176 nm ahead of the blue boat, Ian Walker has his eyes on the seven day forecast and what might be in store for the team when they reach the infamous Cape Horn, a place that he has never been.
“One thing seems certain, it is going to be a very windy, fast, cold blast reach to the Horn in a few days time,” he says. Weather forecasts are indicating a windy rounding of between 35 – 50 knots of breeze.
Walker has surrounded himself with experienced crew; the two Irishmen, Damian Foxall and Justin Slattery, together with Neal McDonald/GBR are all Cape Horn veterans and know very well what could be in store, but he still finds himself monitoring the weather forecast day by day. esterday we were power reaching in 25 knots of wind and for the first three hours of my watch I never saw the speedo drop below 20 knots.
Ian Walkers wrote today “It became a bit of a game to see who would finally break the sequence, with helm changeovers being critical times. First Tom, then Maniac (Chris Main/NZL) and then I all steered in turn successfully, but I am ashamed to say it was me steering as boatspeed momentarily dipped to 19.6 knots – although I point to a drop in wind speed as my excuse.
After 26 days at sea, any game is enough to keep us amused for hours. One thing that never ceases to amaze me however is how the same guys can go on deck for four hours on four hours off, day in, day out for 26 days so far on what is now the fifth leg of the race, and still have something to talk about. Emails help to raise topics for discussion and we’ve tried politics, but I don’t think as a crew we are going to win any debating awards. The future of the race, Phil’s (Phil Harmer/AUS) wedding plans, sport, women and children are favourite topics of discussion and there are always plenty of war stories from years gone by. Throughout all of this Neal (Neal McDonald/GBR) is always on hand to correct the Aussies’ and Kiwis’ English grammar – you can tell his father was a school master.
Back to the race and we have been making excellent progress for a few days now since we finally got the spinnaker up. Unfortunately, we have had to sail a lot of extra distance to keep in the stronger wind and it has been a period where the ‘rich have got richer’. Those ahead have carried more favourable breeze and a more direct route, but over the next few days that should be reversed – or so we hope. What look like big leads right now should be dramatically reduced by Cape Horn.
Cape Horn is already very much on our radar and every weather forecast we get I can’t help but look seven days ahead to see what is in store for us. One thing seems certain – it is going to be a very windy, fast, cold blast reach to the Horn in a few days time.
The water temperature is already dropping fast as we approach 50 degrees south and it is starting to get uncomfortable on deck. Down below is better but the carbon hull is freezing cold leading to lots of condensation. Wouter (Wouter Verbraak/NED) and my bunk is right under the runner winch, which seems to be a focus for drips. It’s not so bad if the boat is heeled over, but when the boat comes upright the drip is directly above our heads. This is becoming more than a mild annoyance and it might be time to deal with it the old fashioned way – by hanging a bucket from the roof.”
At 1300 GMT today, Ericsson 3 had extended her lead by another 64 nm since 1300 GMT yesterday, recording a 24-hour run of 500 nm. The team now has less than 5,000 nm to run to the finish in Rio in this 12,300 nm leg, which started in Qingdao, China 25 days ago.
Leg Five Day 25: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 4,762 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +272
PUMA USA (Ken Read/USA) +329
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +475
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +651
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS