Volvo Race: Ericsson 4 battles Puma for lead

7:27 PM Mon 15 Dec 2008 GMT
With just five miles separating the top three boats, there's not time to let your guard down at the front of the fleet. Ericsson 4 remains on top of the table at 16:00 GMT this afternoon, but Torben Grael and his men are just hanging on.

PUMA is just one mile back, while Telefonica Blue is hanging tough as well, five miles behind Ericsson 4. All three of the leading boats have tacked over the past three hours as the wind veers slightly to the right. It's a move that's been anticipated by Team Russia navigator Wouter Verbraak.

'Over the next days, the crucial question is when to tack north,' he wrote earlier today. 'It is clear that there is consistently more wind up there in the Bay of Bengal, but we want to find a good opportunity get there. Go further east to get that better right hand shift, or go earlier to get to the stronger wind first?'

Looking at the track of the leaders, it appears they may have been able to do both. The 2D tracker shows them tacking shortly after the 13:00 position report and from that point onwards they've been curling to the right on a gentle right-hand shift.

An adverse current of up to three knots is slowing the progress of the entire fleet over the ground, but progress is steady, if not spectacular.

'At the moment, we are sitting in first place with both Telefonica Blue and PUMA only a couple of miles to leeward. While we have generally been able to maintain a reasonable boatspeed though the water, adverse currents of up to 3 knots are really putting a halt to the distance we are covering over the ground,' noted Ryan Godfrey from Ericsson 4.

Behind the leading three, only Anders Lewander on Ericsson 3 has decided to break to the north. Telefonica Black, Green Dragon and Team Russia have continued to sail their southeasterly progress. Just six miles separate Ericsson 3 in fourth place, from Green Dragon in seventh.

The forecast over the next couple of days is for the tense conditions to continue, as wind speeds are predicted to increase slightly. Race meteorologist Jennifer Lilly says jumps up and down the leaderboard are to be expected over the coming position reports.

'The fleet can expect winds near 10 knots for Monday, building slightly on Tuesday, and then filling to the mid teens on Wednesday. The direction will range between NNE and ESE, and the likelihood of squalls will increase as the fleet continues east.

'Over the next 48 hours the weather will provide plenty of opportunities for gains and losses across the fleet; nevertheless, with 1000 miles to go before the scoring gate, it is still anyone's race.'

Volvo Ocean race - Leg Three: 17:00 GMT 15 December 2008

1 Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 1463 nm
2 PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +1
3 Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +5
4 Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +20
5 Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) +22
6 Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +23
7 Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +26
8 Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +57

by Volvo media

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Volvo Race: Ericsson 4 battles Puma for lead

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