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7:43 PM Mon 22 Dec 2008 GMT
Leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race and Telefonica Black has claimed fifth place behind Telefonica Blue, Puma, Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4. Green Dragon, Team Russia and Delta LLoyd are yet to finish.
Telefonica Black has claimed fifth place in leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race, finishing at 17:36:23 GMT. They'll collect four points for their efforts, which leapfrogs them past Green Dragon for the moment. But if the the Dragons hold their position, they'll reclaim fifth on the overall leaderboard shortly.
17:05 GMT update
Ken Read, Skipper on PUMA,who finished second place on leg three: 'Every time I do one of these legs I come back and say I have never done anything like it before. There is a theme starting here.
'Never done anything like that before. Dear lord and not really sure I want to do anything like that again. It was an amazing roller coaster - we would have just keep talking yourself out of getting too low when things weren't going great or too high when things were going fantastic. Wow bam. Unbelievable. Hats off the Telefonica guys. They did a really nice job. They just snuck through 100 miles out and didn't look back. So congratulations to them.
'In the last 30 miles, we had a half mile lead on Ericsson 3 and a mile and half lead on Ericsson 4 and it was getting breezier. We had to change from an A3 to a masthead genoa all of a sudden.'
Torben Grael, skipper, Ericsson 4,fourth place in leg three: 'We knew it was going to be how it was. The reality was anything could happen and it did. We had four boats alternating for the lead. We had the lead a little - everybody had it a little bit - and then Telefonica Blue had the last opportunity and managed to hold on.
'We knew it was going to be complicated because being in the Strait there are big changes in the conditions. We didn't expect to lose so much so quickly, but we did manage to come back and be ahead again.
'It could have gone our way but it didn't. That's what racing is about. Some days you win, some days you lose.We're a little disappointed to finish so close but still be fourth. On the other hand, it's a good overall result for the leg - we won the gate and had fourth overall so it's not too bad.
'It's part of racing. You cannot win every leg. It's always a bit of up and down. We had an extremely good first leg and a very good second leg...'
16:20 GMT update
Anders Lewander, Ericsson 3,post-finish: 'It's been so enormously tough all of this leg.but it's been really amazing. I've really enjoyed this leg because of the close tactics and the mix of conditions. It's hard work but the close encounter and the whole situation on this leg has been really challenging.
'I must admit that at several occasions during this leg I truly believed we were able to win. I'm really proud and happy about our achievement.this short gybing and close encounters is really good racing.
'The Malacca Strait was challenging with night sailing up the shoreline.then the line-up with the four of us in very variable, light wind conditions. It was a bit of a lottery situation. But it was important to keep in mind the big picture and not necessarily look just at the short term.'
16:00 GMT update
Bouwe Bekkingfrom the finish line: 'A very happy bunch here on Telefonic Blue. We kept our heads cool today, and as predicted it wasn't over until close to the finish. We had all the exitement in the last 50 miles, dodging fishing nets, zig-zagging around tugboats, hundreds of commercial ships, and then the wind which was ranging from 20 knots to nearly zero. A real test for all the guys minds, as our nice advantage over the others nearly vanished, but we pulled it off and all the guys did a marvelous job. A better X-mas present we couldn't have wished for.'
15:10 GMT update
Telefonica Blue won leg three but behind, PUMA has grabbed second place, while the Nordic crew on board Ericsson 3 pushed their stable mates and overall race leader, Ericsson 4 into fourth place for the leg.
15:00 update
Telefonica Blue crossed the finish line off Singapore at 14:51:22 GMT, or 22:51:22 local time. The fight for second place remains, with PUMA and the two Ericsson entries separated by just a few hundred metres approaching the line.
14:30 GMT update
Reports from the water say the race course is littered with commercial traffic and container ships - not a surprise on the waters off Singapore. But it's another element for the skippers to contend with. Choosing to pass on one side or the other of a ship may be the difference between second and fourth.
Meanwhile, further back. Green Dragon is gamely fending off Team Russia. The Russian have gained over 20 miles over the past day on the Dragons, but Ian Walker's men have crawled back a couple of miles to hold a four mile lead with just under 100 miles to run to the finish.
14:00 GMT
It doesn't get any closer.
Telefonica Blue is two miles clear of the chasing group, but PUMA, Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 are all within metres of each other with less than 10 miles to go to the finish.
While Bouwe Bekking looks well positioned with less than an hour to go, how this plays out is far from certain. Stay tuned.
13:30 update
With the race into Singapore so close, position reports will be updated every hour until the leading group crosses the line.
Tensions are running on board as each team realises the difference between finishing first and fourth is going to come down to one unlucky gust, or one poorly executed manoeuvre. The margin for error is non-existent.
Telefonica Blue is leading the charge and now (13:30 GMT) have just one hour to go to the finish. Bouwe Bekking's men have a two mile margin over PUMA with the Ericsson twins both just one mile further back.
The wind is holding strong and at 13:30 the boats were making about 12 knots through the water with Telefonica Blue just under 14 miles from the finish line.
www.volvooceanrace.org
by Volvo event media
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