SAILING:A DAY of snakes-and-ladders sailing on the waters of the Beijing Olympic regatta off Qingdao ended yesterday with Ireland's Green Dragon secure in fourth place overall in the Volvo Ocean Race, but still saw disappointment for Ian Walker's team as Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 emerged stronger once again.
After two days of postponement of the In-Port Race, as well as the sponsor-friendly pro-am contest scheduled for Sunday, the fog lifted a bit and a breeze of sorts eventually allowed race officer Bill O’Hara to send the four-boat fleet off on two laps of a windward-leeward course.
It was nip and tuck, and if previous form was a guide, Walker’s team should have been stuck at the back end of the pack. Except that two new sails have improved their light-airs performance, and the Dragon played the calm patches well to end up within two boat-lengths of Grael.
Their private match-race continued around the course and the Brazilian extended to win by 30 seconds while the Galway boat placed second.
With the breeze threatening to flicker out completely, a second race was staged and this time it was the turn of Dutchman Bouwe Bekking at the helm of Spain’s Telefonica Blue to open a substantial lead, with Walker again holding second place for the first lap of the course. Two second places would have handed the overall win for the day to Walker and a podium result at last.
But it was not to be. In almost total calm, Walker took a tight turn for the leeward mark and slowed. Grael, along with Ken Read on Puma Ocean Racing, charged in from behind, blanketed the thin airflow and the Dragon parked up as the chasing pair sailed through.
Nevertheless, last place for the day still delivered another three points to the Green Dragon’s overall tally, now at 30 points.
Grael, meanwhile, has 49 points though must watch Bekking and Read carefully as the overall podium remains wide open.
The fleet starts Leg Five from China to Brazil on Saturday and the 12,500-mile leg is being viewed as another potential problem stage that is already without Telefonica Black and Team Delta Lloyd, damaged in storms last month en route to China.
But for Walker, yesterday’s result is a two-point cushion from Ericsson 3 that arrives in China soon and who will collect four points for finishing the leg from Singapore.
There is the additional bonus of a new backer alongside Green Dragon’s Irish and Chinese sponsors. Swedish firm Berg Propulsion has added its name to the Galway boat’s hull in a deal understood to be for a significant six-figure sum.
