11:35 PM Fri 17 Apr 2009 GMT
The fleet have past the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, the same scoring gate from the first leg from Alicante to Cape Town. It was the Spaniards on Telefonica Blue who kept Ericsson 4 at bay and took full points.
Ericsson 4 were second followed by Delta Lloyd just one minute ahead of Puma. Telefonica Black took fifth, Ericsson 3 were next, followed by Green Dragon who had been caught in a band of light air as they made their final approach.
The calm light conditions before the gate have now shifted to squalls and wind shifts ranging from 5 - 18 knots, as well as a swing in direction from north-east to east-southeast. Ahead lies the doldrums and life isn't going to get easier until they are through this and can head into the north-east trade winds. With the gate behind them the options for routing are more open as they don't have to work towards a direct way point ahead of them.
Once past the gate the fleet scattered and Telefonica Blue have pulled away from the chasing pack. They now hold a 70 mile lead from the closet boats Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3. Whilst Green Dragon remains in seventh they have made progress on the boats ahead and are now 21 miles from second placed Ericsson 4. For James Carroll (Green Dragon's boat captain) who is sailing his second leg onboard the Dragon it will be a nervous 24 hours as they pass the equator. This will be his first crossing and as skipper Ian Walker pointed out King Neptune does not look kindly on those who pass from south to north on their first time! A visit from King Neptune and Queen Codfish is on the cards for the Dragon..
GREEN DRAGON LEG SIX DAY 7 QFB: received 17.04.09 1032 GMT
At around midnight last night we passed the island of Fernando de Noronha for the second time in this race. For six of us onboard who have sailed every leg and never sailed the race before, this means we have completed our first circumnavigation of the world. For guys like Neal McDonald it is simply yet another 'lap'.
Having sailed all through Asia it really does feel like we have sailed the whole world too! This is a great achievement for these guys and for the team as a whole but we will not truly consider the 'lap' complete until we get to Galway.
Spirits are good onboard despite being last at the scoring gate. We are sailing well and over the last 24 hours we have taken lots of miles out of the pack. We need to steal as many miles as we can in the doldrums before we get into the NE trades and power reaching conditions again.
Telef?nica Blue has done a nice job leading at the gate but I will admit it is frustrating that we were right behind them at Capo Frio having done the hard bit well. We have 3600 miles between us and Boston to find another break. It is quite bizarre how 3600 miles seems like a short hop after the marathon leg five. In fact if the weather forecast holds true we should have less than 1000 miles to go in a week's time.
We are technically in the doldrums right now with towering clouds and rain squalls, but still we hold good wind - for now. The sailing is fantastic, especially at night with lots of medium air reaching. It looks like it will only get better too.
Life aboard today is mainly focused on the rite of passage across the Equator for James Carroll, our popular boat captain. Rumour has it an oriental King Neptune, King Chuan, will be making an appearance and a considerable list of 'crimes' has been prepared. Unfortunately for Jimbo the lads have had far too long, with nothing else to think about, for him to get away lightly and this is our third ceremony of the race so we are getting better at them. It seems hard to believe that only six months ago I was among those getting initiated - an awful lot has happened since then.
Ian Walker - skipper
Leg Six Day 7: 1600 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
1. Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 3,270 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +70
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +79
4. Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) +82
5. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +83
6. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Berm?dez/ESP) + 84
7. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +91
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by Green Dragon Racing Team
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