Which way is best into the Doldrums?

8:35 PM Mon 24 Nov 2008 GMT

'Green Dragon about to change a sail, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India' Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race &copy Click Here to view large photo

The Volvo Ocean Race main pack still remains the same, with Green Dragon in fifth position as they approach the Doldrums.

'I'd love to tell you that today is very different from yesterday, but it is not. We are still blast reaching at about 20 knots across the southeast trade winds. The important thing is, we are making good time as we are approaching the part of the trip where the crew demand to know how far it is to go more and more - before long it will have to be on every electronic display on deck' explained Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker this morning.

There are two possible strategies to follow as the boats line up to cross the Doldrums Ian Walker wrote in his blog today. 'The fleet is lining up for the Doldrums which are just over a day away with Ericsson 4 seemingly having a change of heart and diving north for a more direct crossing near Diego Garcia.

The Telef?nicas are out west with Puma in the middle near the Ericsson boats. The Dragon is holding the eastern flank while Delta Lloyd and Team Russia are further to the east behind. It is not too late to change your minds and this is what we are trying to decide now. To be honest, everyone looks to be heading for near enough the same area, which, I guess, is no surprise as we are all looking at the same weather files with the same software. Going direct is very appealing but with such a tight race even a few hours of no wind could make the difference between 1st and 5th. You play poker with the doldrums at your peril!'

Despite having the boom still broken down below, the Dragon is managing to sail at an impressive speed. Ian Moore says this is a whole new experience for all the crew. 'We're having to sort of learn to sail again. There are four or five different sheet attached to the corner of the sails to get the different angle that you normally get with just the boom and a main sheet. We're not sailing as fast as we would do if we had the boom but we're giving everything we possibly can do.'

On the continuing debate on whether or not to repair the broken boom, Navigator, Ian Moore explained the pros and cons: 'It wo

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Which way is best into the Doldrums?

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