NEXT 24 HOURS CRUCIAL FOR THE ROUTE SOUTH.
It was celebrations onboard Green Dragon for Ian Walker and his international crew as they passed through the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha today in the lead at 12.24 GMT. The four points gained from this gate meant Green Dragon held the top spot on the overall leaderboard for a short time. At 13.59 GMT the crew onboard Ericsson 4 passed the gate gaining enough points to sit joint first on the board with the Dragon.
Ian Walker said, "We're delighted on board. We've been leading for a few days now and every single position report we're watching to see if they're closing in on us, but we're holding them off."
PUMA & Ericsson 4 have pushed hard today, gaining valuable miles on the Dragon, they now defend a delicate 5 mile lead over second placed Ericsson 4 who have managed to slip in front of PUMA. Green Dragon's navigator Ian Moore will have a difficult job, as he plans the route south. The next 24 hours could be crucial in lining up towards the finish of leg 1. There are still over 3000 miles left on the map and it is at least 10 days to their expected ETA into Cape Town.
He commented,"I think back over all the decisions and manoeuvres we have made in the intervening week and I am pleased and proud at our performance as a team. We have to be careful not to make mistakes, and we did a good job of minimizing our losses and then building a strong westerly tactical position into the Doldrums which has culminated in maximum points as we rounded the Island today. But this is no time to rest on our laurels though, there is a schedule report in five minutes and new weather in an hour and we need to start making our strategy for the next 3354 miles to Cape Town".
Leg One Day 13: 1700 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to leader)
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) DTF 3354
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) + 5
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +6
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +8
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +67
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +121
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) +142
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +171
*Provisional leaderboard (including first scoring gate):
1 PUMA - 6pts
2 Ericsson 4 - 6pts
3 Green Dragon - 6pts
*TIES: When there is a tie on total points between two or more Boats, the tie will be broken in favour of the Boat with the most first places counting Legs and In Port Races, and, if the tie remains, the most second places, and so on.
If after completing the procedure described above a tie still exists, it will be broken in favour of the Boat that has the highest place on the last Leg.
Any ties still remaining shall be broken in favour of the Boat that has the highest place on the next-to-last race (Leg or In Port race) and so on until all ties are broken.
On an In Port Race day when there has been two races completed and there is a tie between Boats after the two races, the tie will be broken in favour of the Boat with the highest placing between the tied boats in the second race on that day, and shall be reapplied if ties remain.
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