After more days going up wind than anyone in the Volvo fleet cares to remember, the fleet has finally cracked off and is experience ‘proper’ Southern Ocean conditions as the five boats race onwards towards Cape Horn and the second of two scoring gates on this leg of the course.
‘What a relief. Finally the breeze has swung enough to le us ease sheets and get the good ship going fast in the right direction,’ noted Ericsson 4’s bowman, Ryan Godfrey. ‘It has been days now that our distance to the finish has not budged, so what a pleasure the past 24-hours were, to be doing 20 knots and heading east,’ he said. … Details
A British team is on course to break one of the last great speed records. Piloting a yacht that looks like a futuristic windsurf on steroids, the team hopes to achieve the world sailing speed record in the next few weeks, with an average speed higher than 50.57 knots (the existing record).
That is the equivalent of nearly 60mph …Â Details
As the Volvo Open 70 fleet drag raced towards the scoring gate at 36 degrees S, it was all to play for, up to the very end. With the eventual winner of the first points of leg five being Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), yet it was Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) who received all the interest after their crossing.
Grael and his International crew picked up four points at 00:21 GMT last night as they crossed the gate and were closely followed by their stable-mate Ericsson 3….Â
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Sailor Peter Bretschger is doing things differently this year for the Newport-to-Ensenada sailboat race.
Instead of having family drive down to meet him, they’ll join him on the boat ride down. And rather than take a cab back to the border after the awards ceremony, he’ll be staying on his boat for the voyage back.
The owner of the 40-foot sailboat Adios is staying on the water to stay clear of the increasingly dangerous streets of Mexico,…. Details