The Leading Pack Estimated Arrival At Scoring Gate on Thursday 23 October 2008.

Doldrums Could Prove Tricky.

This weekend saw Green Dragon take the lead from PUMA as the westerly route paid dividends. By Sunday morning, they were in the most favourable conditions sailing in significantly more wind than the rest of the chasing fleet.

As soon as the reports came out showing the gains the Dragon had made in the west the fleet followed suit with PUMA and Ericsson 3 gybing to their position. 30 minutes later Ericsson 4 followed them. By Sunday afternoon Ian Walker and his crew were on port gybe on a straight line to the gate at Fernando de Noronha.

Current forecast show a band of light air, which is about to engulf the fleet. Ian Walker commented,

"It is anybody's guess who will pop out of here first and the only thing we know for sure is it won't be quick. This is a big parking lot that could last for days".

Volvo's shore based performance evaluator Mark Chisnell filled us in on the weather systems ahead:
"The Green Dragon's route shows her sailing a carefree and clean passage south down the longitude 30-31W. They will still hit some ugly stuff - no one is going to get into the south-east trades until the 22nd - but the Dragon should skirt the worst of it. I'm still backing the three western boats to pick up the flowers and chocolates at the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha - and the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) has now gone back to the early afternoon of the 23rd".

Skipper Ian Walker updated us from onboard Green Dragon:
"After making a brave decision to head far out West we have enjoyed gain after gain on each position report over the last 36 hours. My little yellow book of ranges and bearings to the other boats has been a joy to read. Unfortunately now the boot is on the other foot and as we head into the doldrums the fleet is compressing. In fact the whole fleet is almost in a line abreast. We headed far West to try and get round the calm, which nearly worked, but now we have all been swallowed up. The only thing we really have to power us along are the towering cumulus clouds that suck air into them and then blow it all out when they rain. We have just had one such shower and the fresh water was blissful. It is anybody's guess who will pop out of here first and the only thing we know for sure is it won't be quick. This is a big parking lot that could last for days. As I type this we are moving at 1 knot at 90 degrees to the course we would like to. Ian Moore has taken to making sacrifices to the sea gods and even threw his daily chocolate bar clean over the side - these are desperate times! Personally I think I will take another approach and get some sleep, whilst hoping it is better when I wake up. If I stay on deck any longer I will drive myself and every member of the crew mad. They will probably end up throwing me over the side!"

1800 GMT Current positions/DTL
1. Green Dragon / 0
2. Telefonica Black / 25
3. PUMA / 33
4. Ericsson 3 / 40
5. Telfoncia Blue / 43
6. Ericsson 4 / 45
7. Team Russia / 51
8. Delta Loyd / 90