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5:42 AM Thu 19 Feb 2009 GMT
The fleet have changed direction and are now heading south as conditions remain at 15 knots. Green Dragon have made the turn south as the boats start to fall into line.
A clear gap has emerged; Ericsson 4 is in pole position and Puma, in second, have pulled away from the chasing pack with a 135 mile lead. Ericsson 3 is holding third and the Dragon is chasing in fourth some 60 miles to their stern. Telef?nica Blue are bringing up the rear in fifth 72 miles behind Ian Walker and his crew.
Expert Mark Chisnell explains the current situation: 'A couple of other things have changed. The wind shifted towards the east, Puma and Ericsson both let the wind angle tighten to about 110 degrees. Then, as the wind continued to shift, they altered course to go with it, to end up sailing south-east - not far from the course to the scoring gate, which is currently 155 degrees. But Puma went just a touch further with the course change than Ericsson 4, steering a little more south, so that there is now just over 25 miles between them, east to west.
The other thing is that the lead pair has poured on the mileage since yesterday - in 24 hours they've gained 55+ miles on each of the three boats behind them. I think this is partly boat speed, and partly the hand dealt by the weather, which at the moment is favouring the leaders.'
Update from onboard:'It has been a tough 24 hours for the Green Dragon as we have been consistently slower than the leaders and have also paid the price for our more Northerly position. We didn't mean to be quite so far North but had a long period of light and lifted winds two days ago that ushered us North. We also had to come up to thread our way through some small Japanese Islands - why is it that when you are in a huge ocean the islands always end up right where you wish to pass? I guess it is for the same reason you always seem to end up on collision course for any ships nearby.
'Everybody is very philosophical about the miles we have lost. It is always going to be difficult against these boats and we are pleased to now be back on track over the last few scheds. It is a long way to Rio and our game plan of sailing what we believe to be the right way irrespective of the other boats will not change. I am surprised to hear the lads already talking about when we will get to Rio - personally I am trying to put it out of my mind until after we round Cape Horn. It's a bit early to display the miles to go just yet.
'Life onboard is very comfy (for a Volvo 70) with everyone catching up on sleep and the thermal layers and boots are being replaced with shorts and light weight shoes. Suncream and sunglasses made an appearance today and you can feel the heat of the sun for the first time since leaving the Phillipines. Before long we will have to dig out the fans to help us sleep at night. Even the food seems to taste better this leg although we seem to have forgotten the powdered milk which rules out a nice cup of tea. Maybe it will be in tomorrow's food bag!'
Skipper Ian Walker - Leg Five Day Five: 1600 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 10847 nm
Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +1
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +136
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +208
Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +285
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
www.greendragonracing.com
by Lucy Harwood
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Lord Howe Island Windy Point, NSW
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