9:52 AM Sat 28 Mar 2009 GMT
 | | 'A triumphant Magnus Olsson rejoices in his team’s win after Ericsson 3 crosses the finish line in Rio de Janeiro to claim the winner’s 8 points for Leg 5.'
Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race © |
From www.volvooceanrace.org: Latest news is posted at the top of this story - images are posted and updated as they come to hand
Green Dragon crossed the finish line at 18:59:40. That's a fourth place finish for the Dragons, who collect five points for their efforts. We'll have dockside reaction from the hungry Dragon crew shortly...
Next up is Telefonica Blue, less than 40 miles from the finish, with an expected ETA near midnight.
Quotes from the dock:
Ian Walker: 'It's been a hard 10 days - these last 10 days...We just had to stick at it. It feels like quite an achievement to sail 12 500 miles! Getting around Cape Horn was always something I wanted to do, but getting here and having a steak sandwich is the highlight right now.'
Navigator Wouter Verbraak, who started the Volvo Ocean Race with Team Russia, is now scheduled to join Delta Lloyd for Leg 6. But for the longest stage of the race, he has been with Green Dragon, replacing Ian Moore for the leg.
'It's been a real leg of extremes. I thought I'd seen highs and lows on the other legs, but this is such a marathon,' he said. 'You go from one dip to the next mountain. For us as a team it's been really good to keep coming back until the very end.'
18:00 GMT Update
Green Dragon has stalled - no wind - about five miles from the finishing line. It's very hot and humid here in Rio, with big dark clouds building.
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PUMA Racing take third on Leg and second overall
Ken Read/USA guided PUMA over the finish line this morning in Rio de Janeiro at 0427 GMT (0127 local) to claim the third podium place on leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, a result good enough for Read to retain second position in the race overall at this halfway stage.
Ken Read and his team now have 53 points on the scoreboard having added six leg points and six gate points to their tally. This keeps them in second place, but only a whisker ahead Telef?nica Blue, whose total will be 50.5 points at the end of this leg, assuming they hold their current position. Even if Telef?nica Blue should beat Green Dragon on this leg, which now seems unlikely, it will not affect PUMA's overall second place standing in the race.
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Ericsson 4 Finishes Leg 5
Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael, dockside: 'To have a reception like we've had here in Rio is fantastic. It's so nice, you come from 40 days at sea by yourself and then you arrive here. First there was only one boat, then another one and then all of sudden, a lot of friends, shouting and celebrating. It's fantastic.
I think we're very happy. It's a fantastic team result - first and second - and at the gates as well. and it's a very important result for us overall. It's a great result for the team and we're happy for that.'
Ericsson 4 navigator Jules Salter pays tribute to Ericsson 3: 'We've sailed with all of those guys and they've learned off us and we've learned off them. That's the way the two-boat team thing works. You create a team that's hard to beat sometimes if you create it properly...That's something you have to accept, but it's a good boat and well-sailed. They did a good job.'
23:00 UPDATE
Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael has led his team to a second place finish on Leg 5, good enough for seven scoring points. That will solidify their already powerful position atop the overall leaderboard.
PUMA is making good speed now, at 10 knots, with 50 miles to run to the finish.
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Ericsson 4 next in line
After the euphoric welcome given to Ericsson 3 this morning when she crossed the finish line in Rio de Janeiro to win leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson 4's turn will come, but later on today.
Ending her StealthPlay this morning when she came within 50 miles of the finish, at 1300 GMT today Ericsson 4 had 46 miles to run, but her boat speed is down to a miserable two knots, promising a long and drawn out affair.
PUMA in the third spot, (DTF 92 nm) is fairing fractionally better, achieving an average speed of 5.8 knots during the past three hours. However, both Green Dragon and Telef?nica Blue are making excellent progress a double the speed of PUMA, but have a lot of miles yet to cover.
Ericsson is predicted to finish around 2030 GMT today, provided she is not completely becalmed, with PUMA expected later tonight, but both Green Dragon and Telef?nica Blue will have at least another two days at sea before they can sample the culinary delights of Rio de Janeiro.
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From www.volvooceanrace.org: 1045 UPDATE - Ericsson 3 wins Leg 5
Ericsson 3 has finally crossed the finish line in Rio De Janeiro to win Leg 5.
After a slow march to glory, Swedish skipper Magnus Olsson and his men officialy finished at 10:37:57 GMT.
We will bring you dockside reaction and plenty of photographs of 11 delirious Nordic crew members shortly.
0945 UPDATE
Final couple of miles now, but in very light winds, progress is slow. But it's a beautiful sunny morning in Rio; a perfect morning to welcome some very worthy leg winners.
We'll give you the finish time when they cross the line and bring you all the reaction from dockside shortly.
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Heading to the finish update from the finish of the Volvo Ocean Race is that Ericsson 3 should be making progress towards the finish line in Rio de Janeiro, having passed through an ared of light air.
At last report she was still 15nm from the finish and at 1900hrs (NZT) or 0600hrs (UTC/GMT) and was transitioning from a 3kt Southerly breeze to an eight knot westerly (onshore) breeze. Once into that pattern she should be only a couple of hours from the race finish, which by dead reckoning should be about 0830 or 0900hrs GMT/UTC.
Behind her, Puma Racing was 110nm distant, sailing in a 7kt SE which was set to decrease as she neared Rio.
Ericsson 4 was still in her Stealth Play at the last schedule meaning that she was over 50nm from the finish and therefore at least 35nm behind Ericsson 3.
Below:Ericsson 3 weaves her way to the finish line off Rio de Janeiro
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The wind and positioning images used in this story have been generated by Expeditionwhich is a tactical and navigation software application which has been developed by veteran Volvo Ocean Race navigator and Whitbread winner, physicist Nick White, initially for his use in the 2001-2 Volvo Ocean Race with Team News Corp and the Stars & Stripes Americas Cup team.
Since then, Expeditionhas been continually refined by a core group of world-renowned navigators and two-time America's Cup winning navigator Peter Isler has consulted closely in the development of the system. Expedition supports more instrument systems, is easier to use and has the most powerful and useful functions for the racing navigator.
Expedition is now has PredictWind integrated into the application as an option for PredictWind subscribers.
The wind data and prognosis used to produce these images also uses software developed by PredictWind, an application developed by Jon Bilger a top NZ youth and Olympic sailor who turned his hand to wind and weather prediction, and helped Alinghi to their outstanding victories in the last two America's Cups.
Now that same technology is available to the weekend sailing and club racers, the cruising fraternity or professional sailors around the world. Select any region in the world of interest to you and PredictWindwill monitor the area for you and provide updated predictions on demand.
PredictWind is a subscription system, with a number of options. While some may feel the wind is free, the ability to get a five day detailed wind forecast for an area of interest creates great peace of mind, allowing forward planning and decision making to be made with some certainty. The time and money saved through being able to work with a high degree of confidence, is more than offset by the relatively small cost of the subscription.
But don't take our word for it, get PredictWindnow and have a 30 day trial for free, and see for yourself.
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com
Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:
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