 |
8:06 PM Wed 25 Mar 2009 GMT
Green Dragon have reached the 40 day mark, the last few days onboard have been long and slow. Today conditions have improved and the Dragon is now up to speed again and making good progress towards Rio. Just 700 miles remain on this epic leg for Ian Walker and his crew, and whilst the weather looked to be against them yesterday as Telef?nica Blue closed the gap to within 50 miles.
Today brings better news as the distance between them has increased again to over 160 miles. Green Dragon have managed to escape the high pressure that has been a trap for them in the last week. The Dragon is now in good breeze and sailing at a steady 15 knots.
Volvo's race expert Mark Chisnell filled us in, 'They all had the east or south-easterly wind direction that would be expected to flow anti-clockwise above the high, at 12 o'clock relative to the centre. And in the case of Green Dragon, it was veritably howling, blowing 20 knots.'
Elsewhere Ericsson 3 who were leading the fleet home to Rio have pulled the
stealth play out of the bag today at 10:00 GMT, the current routing has them arriving into Rio approximately 9 hours ahead of their sister ship Ericsson 4, who also deployed stealth play at 1600 GMT.
GREEN DRAGON LEG FIVE DAY 39 QFB: received 24.03.09 1800 GMT
We are still in the grips of the ever expanding high pressure. Last night and this morning was the calmest I have ever seen the sea. We went hours and hours without even seeing a ripple on the surface.
The crew continues to work hard to move forwards as every mile we get north will help us get in the wind sooner. Right now it looks like we will have to endure another six days to get to Rio. Not good considering our first ETA four days ago was tomorrow!
Our fuel situation has become critical as the alternator on the generator isn't working and we have to charge off the main engine which takes more fuel. We have switched off all non essentials and are trying not to move the keel (which draws a lot of power) and have calculated we have six days left. I think it will still take us six days to get to Rio but I am scared of making any more predictions. We have approximately five meals left and a bit of porridge so nobody will starve, but this is on top of being hungry for weeks - each watch now has its own ration pack and a black market is rapidly developing.
I continue to be impressed by the team's professionalism and good humour in the face of adversity.
The highlight of today was a school of yellow fin tuna circling the boat and Phil Harmer's attempt to spear one with a knife taped to a batten.
Unfortunately the only net result was some lost porridge thrown in the water to try and attract them closer. We should have used Beef Jerky but couldn't bring ourselves to throw it over the side as bait. Maniac (Chris Main) is determined to catch a turtle but thus far we have stopped him from jumping in on top of one as they swim past. I am not quite sure what we would do with it if he did catch one and I suspect they are a protected species so we will refrain. Besides I like turtles.
I am not one to dwell too long on any misfortune. Last night I lay on the foredeck looking up at the mast and sails listening to my iPod pondering our situation and I thought of all the thousands of people who would love to go sailing across an ocean on a fantastic boat like this and those who never had that chance. We have that opportunity and we will continue to make the most of it despite less than ideal circumstances. See you in Rio soon I hope!
Ian Walker - skipper
by Green Dragon media/Ian Walker
|
|
