For the Dragon, they are hatching a new plan and have stayed south, along with the wounded Telefonica Blue as they try to hook into the new low pressure system which is building in the south. Green Dragon’s navigator Wouter commented, “It is a life of extremes one day we are really down in the dumps going upwind and going nowhere. Then the next day we have a birthday onboard for Damian and we are blast reaching along at 20 knots towards the mark! We celebrated with a bag of candy which was a real treat for us! This is just fantastic sailing; this is what these boats are made for, the seas are quite flat and we are just riding the front of this low pressure system. It’s fast and safe and that’s what we like. It is amazing how the atmosphere has changed onboard, just the fact that we are pointing the boat home towards Cape Horn, compared to sailing upwind in 25 knots and going nowhere is huge, it makes a really, really big difference. And now we are finally finding some wind that we are used to finding in the Southern Ocean, so the leg is becoming more like it should be”.
The move to stay on a more northerly route, was a gamble compared to the more traditional southerly routes but it has paid dividends for the young crew onboard Ericsson 3 and the fleet are all in agreement that the navigator’s decision was a great one, “We have to takes our hats off to Ericsson 3, because they have done an excellent job in picking out the low pressure system,” commetned Wouter. “At the moment they are going to pick up another weather system that will drive them along, but it is still a little way until the next ice gate. So we will have to see, but in any case Ericsson 3 will have a big lead, the others will have to hang on, but right now we will just have to see how things pan out”.
After the next ice gate, the teams will be lining up to round one of the most famous landmarks in sailing history, Cape Horn. But all of the crews had hoped to be closer to Horn than they are at the present time. The predicted 30 day leg, is looking more like a 40 plus day leg, “I think we are looking at the 18th March at the moment, so we are well behind schedule. But in the Southern Ocean things can change and even the smallest weather system can become a bigger system, which you can ride to Cape Horn. So we will just have to keep our eyes out for another system here and any opportunities to see if we can improve on our eta and get into Rio in a decent time,” said Wouter Verback in an interview yesterday afternoon.
