Beating Doldrums, Ericsson 4 leads

Doldrums has been the talk of the teams for the past couple of days. The teams were waiting to know what is in store for them, before they reach Kochi. The incoming reports state Ericsson 4 continues to lead. Ericsson 4, during leg one, has set a 24-hour record in gale force winds and they are doing extremely well even with the doldrums in effect. The release says, “Over the past 24 hours, Ericsson 4’s lead over teammates Ericsson 3 has increased from 5 to 57 nautical miles on the 04:00 GMT position report.” Wind speed is 6.3 knots. “While Ericsson 4 has a notable lead; Ericsson 3, Green Dragon, Delta Lloyd and Puma are tightly bunched, with just 25 miles separating the four boats,” states the media release.

With less than 692 miles to reach Kochi, the first yacth is expected to reach the shores atleast by Sunday (November 30, 2008). This is much before the scheduled arrival on December 3, 2008.

Volvo Ocean Race crew welcomes the warm weather

Racing around the world, the crew members of the Volvo Ocean Race have the chance to experience various cultures, climatic conditions and tons of experiences; only the team can share their good and not-so-good moments with us.

In the leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race, the crew now has a reason to cheer! Thanks to the warm weather.

They have been talking about clothing and climatic conditions since the last few days. They were wet and still sailing - part of what they have to experience during their sailing. Ian Walker, Skipper, Green Dragon, says, "It is amazing that only three days ago the clothing call was thermals, boots, gloves, crash helmets and double fleece sleeping bags and now we are happily in shorts, UV tops, shoes, sunhats and sun cream." He observes, 'The water temperature has more than doubled and so too has the air.'

It was so for Delta Lloyd too. Ryan Houston - watch captain says in his report, "Our first warm and sunny day of Leg 2. It was a great day for drying out our clothes, and cleaning out the boat. The wind and waves were calm and I think that we will all sleep well on our off watches today."

We've done several sail changes to keep up with a rapidly changing wind direction. Over the course of the day, the wind shifted 180 degrees around to the east. We are now sailing with our Fractional Zero headsail again. This sail has seen a lot of hours on leg 2. We love this sail. It's fantastically versatile. We are looking forward to the trade winds and some warm weather.

Team Russia too talks about the weather in their entry." Everyone on board really enjoyed yesterday’s warmer and drier weather after being cold and wet for almost a week. Everything went on deck to dry out; less moisture is less weight, which will help, in the light stuff ahead," Andreas Hanakamp - skipper.

The fleet is now looking to the trade winds and warm weather.