Green Dragon lead Volvo fleet to Singapore

by Event media on 14 Dec 2008
Cochin in India, bid farewell to the Volvo Ocean Race fleet today at 1530 local time (10:00 GMT) after the eight teams spent a sensational past two weeks in India, the first time the race has visited this area.

In a light sea breeze of around five to six knots, Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) led the fleet across the line in a downwind start as the crews unfurled their big gennakers.

Six hours into the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race and there is divided opinion among the fleet as to the best choice of routing – inshore or offshore – as they make good their escape from Cochin.

By the 16:00 Position Report there was a seven-mile separation between both parties and there is less than seven miles between first and last with just over 100 miles of the 1,950-mile sprint to Singapore wiped off.

The fleet is making steady progress at around 12 knots of boatspeed. The lead bunch, positioned offshore, is headed by PUMA who have Telefonica Blue, the Ericsson twins and Delta Lloyd for company.

At the tail end of the standings was Green Dragon, who along with Team Russia are hugging the coast while Telefonica Black occupy the middle ground.

Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking:

'We had a good start, but PUMA got their nose out just half a boat length, and that made it for us a bit difficult as were dictated by them. Just follow the leader. '

Bekking also revealed how their good start was suddenly stalled. 'The two Ericsson boats were right on our hip and we sailed for about two hours, slowly stretching on them,' he said. 'Then all of a sudden we lost speed. A quick look through the endoscope and we learned that we had weed on the keel and rudder, n and both boats rolled us.

'Amazing such a bad effect some pieces of weed have on the performance. Right now the breeze has dropped to 4-5 knots and we still sail around 6 knots, hopefully the breeze will stay in. We should get more wind, coming back from the east, according to our own weather model.

'The team that sticks its nose in this first, for sure will get a jump on the rest. Right now we are spread out, some right on the beach and us about eight miles off. Time will tell who comes out best.'

Conditions on board are sedate according to Ericsson 4 Media Crew Member, Guy Salter. 'The night air is not only light but also warm and we still feel over dressed in t-shirt and shorts,' he said. 'The moon is bright – in fact yesterday the moon was the closest it had been to Earth in 50 years, its so bright that everything is casting a shadow.

'Everyone is still on deck and I guess it will take a little while to get used to the watch system and life onboard once more. Its journey into the unknown once more and I’m sure it will make everything that little more exciting again.'

Positions at 20:30 hrs Saturday.

Green Dragon(Ian Walker/GBR)
Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT)
Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA)
Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP)
Puma (Ken Read/USA)
Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED)
Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE)
Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP)