For the crew onboard Green Dragon the final days into Rio will be longer than anticipated as the reality of a 40 plus day leg sets in. The current leg leader Ericsson 3 has hit the second band of high pressure that is blocking the path to Rio and the chasing boats are closing the gap. The Dragon has lost some miles in the last 24 hours as they negotiate the weather systems described by Green Dragon’s navigator Wouter as a “minefield”. Sometimes being the navigator is a tough position onboard, as Wouter described in his update today, “We lost 43 miles to the fleet. Not the kind of message I like to come on deck with for the boys, but today it has been the harsh reality that as a navigator you have to deal with. Waving a white flag and phrases like ‘don`t shoot the messenger” are pretty much of no use, the crew is going to take it out on you. Nice mess you got us into, Wouter.!”
The slow route into Rio also means a genuine concern for the supplies onboard, Green Dragon has just two food bags remaining and one spare, each bag supplies two days food and with the present routing suggesting a finish in Rio later next week, it will be a hungry final few days for the crew onboard Green Dragon.
But the game of snakes and ladders on the race course continues and current forecasts suggest a potential opportunity for Green Dragon due to a small low developing of the Argentinean coast, which may provide a chance to gain back some miles on the boats ahead.
Read Wouter’s update in full here
View the latest images from onboard here
Leg Five Day 36: 1600 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 882 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +86
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +174
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +411
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +712
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
