Ericsson 4 and Puma at it again - Volvo Ocean Race

10:29 AM Sun 16 Nov 2008 GMT

'Telefonica Blue at the start of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India' Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race Click Here to view large photo

In leg one, Ericsson 4 and Puma sailed within sight of each other for 'maybe 75 or 80 percent of the leg,' according to Torben Grael, the Ericsson skipper.

Well, guess what? They're at it again. Ericsson 4 leads the charge to the south, with PUMA just behind on her hip. The pair are separated by less than two miles.

On the leaderboard, Telefonica Blue shows up at the top of the table (on the 04:00 GMT report) in terms of distance to finish.

And if the race is initially to the south, where the 'Roaring 40's' scream around the bottom of the planet and the fleet is hoping to pick up a strong low pressure system to drive them east, than the leaderboard would read Ericsson 4, PUMA, and Green Dragon, in order of southerly latitude.

If the leaders are able to hook into that strong westerly breeze they'll be off. And anyone missing the train will be unhappy looking at the position reports for a long, long time.

The entire fleet is still sailing upwind, now hard on the wind on starboard tack, which has made for a sleepless first night, according to Bouwe Bekking on Telefonica Blue.

'We had a good beat up the Cape, and lots of tacking, so very little sleep for the guys. We got stuck together with Ericsson 3 in a light patch this morning, which nobody else seemed to sail through, and that was expensive,' he wrote.
'But now we are on our way again, and have three boats in sight. The boys are now in their sleeping bags for the first time and catching some well deserved sleep. The breeze will slowly build, and we keep that for a couple of day getting some good daily miles under our belt.'

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by Volvo Ocean Race media