7:47 PM Sat 21 Mar 2009 GMT
With a tantalizing 902 miles to race to the finish of the epic 12,300 nm journey that leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race has become, Magnus Olsson and his boys on Ericsson 3 is still in control of the fleet.
However, according to Green Dragon's navigator, Wouter Verbraak, conditions on the racecourse are something of a minefield of light winds, erratic weather models and unexpected twists.
At 1300 GMT today, Ericsson 3 was dealing with yet another high-pressure system, which was slowing their progress considerably.
'Fighting against a front and staying in it has been on the agenda many times in this leg. You may win a lot of miles by doing so, but if you fall short, the wind will back and you start to lose,' said Ericsson 3's watch captain Thomas Johansson. 'We are humans and not robots, so we too start to feel tired and are especially fed up with these fights,' he added.
Ericsson 4 (DTF 86 nm) and third-placed PUMA (DTF 205 nm) have followed almost in the wake of Olsson. Over the past 24 hours, the margin between Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 has only reduced by one mile, while PUMA slipped back 12 miles. The big loss, however, is for Green Dragon, who took an expensive detour to the west, losing the team 141 nm in the last 24 hours. They now trail by 413 nm.
'Yes, it is a real mess,' explained Green Dragon's Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak. 'It was a case of take a big hit now, or stay east and take an even bigger one in 12 hours,' he said. Earlier today, the team just missed a window in the high pressure that has drifted across the course. Puma was only five hours ahead of the Dragons and made it through, but Ian Walker's team was swallowed up. 'It is hurting us badly,' said Verbraak ruefully.
A long way back down the track, the crew of Telef?nica Blue is newly invigorated by their return to the Atlantic and spirits onboard are high.
'Today saw us make some gains on the guys in front,' wrote helmsman Simon Fisher. 'We managed to close the gap between us and the Green Dragons by about 100 miles,' he said. This has given the team a little glimmer of hope of catching Ian Walker and also provides them with some fresh motivation to keep pushing hard.
'As if wanting to get to Rio after over a month at sea wasn't motivation enough,' Fisher said.
Computer routing software is currently predicting a finish in the Maria Da Gloria, Rio, on Tuesday 24 March for Ericsson 3, with a safe lead of over 12 hours, however, there are still just over 900 miles to run and the weather Gods in Rio are renowned for throwing a curve ball at the last minute.
ERICSSON 3 LEG FIVE DAY 36 QFB: received 21.03.09 1314 GMT
Hopefully the last tough night is behind us on leg five. Fighting against a front and staying in it has been on the agenda many times on this leg. You may win a lot of miles by doing so, but if you fall short, the wind will back and you start to lose. This is why again on the night the 19th we had a blast in really mixed up sea state.
But we are human beings, not robots, so we too start to feel tired and we are especially fed up with these fights, due to the fact that it has been, most of the time, tight reaching instead of nice downwind sailing.
You have lots of speed, people are flying around in the cockpit and the constant water hosing makes you crazy. The only thing that keeps you fighting is the commitment to the team and the loyalty to others.
As a team you feel stronger and perform better during the tough times. But for now hopefully we can start to change to shorts and t-shirts. It's been a long ride so far, all the way from Taiwan. Just waiting to get to Rio and get a couple of beers and meet my wife and the kids. But let's first fight to the finish.
Thomas Johansson - watch captain
ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 36 QFB: received 21.03.09 1237 GMT
Here we are, less then 1000 miles to the finish after 35 days! It's been really hard for the body and mind. I think that is a record of days at sea for everybody on board.
So far has been a good leg for us. The first and second at the scoring gates gave us some important points. At the moment we are about 100 miles from Ericsson 3. Our team mates did an awesome come back on the leg. Congratulations to all the Ericsson Racing Team for the great work putting them back on the race on leg four allowing them to start few hours behind us in Qingdao.
Puma is some 150 miles behind. Maybe the approach to Rio can put some boats really close together again.
We are looking forward to arriving in Rio, but the weather forecast hasn't been good. We still have some days to go and I prefer not to mention any number... We did food bags for 38 days and we already have done three extra bags. It means that we all will arrive really hungry there. I can't wait for a real Brazilian barbecue! I hope that some friends are in charge of it!
Good winds
Joca Signorini - trimmer
Leg Five Day 36: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 902 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +86
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +205
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +413
Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +728
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