SAILING:THE MARATHON fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was decided in Rio de Janeiro yesterday when veteran sailor Magnus Olsen and the "rookie" crew of Ericsson 3 crossed the finishing line after more than 40 days at sea.
As the training partner of the senior team in the twin campaign, Olsen’s victory has denied Brazilian Torben Grael of first place once again into his home port of Rio de Janeiro though the five-times Olympic medallist was expected to cross the line in second place overnight.
Both boats “disappeared” from official tracking on Wednesday as they neared the coast in an attempt to cloak their tactics.
Wind dropped to complete calm for the final 100 miles with boat-speeds reduced to one or two knots for prolonged periods.
Today should see American Ken Read bring Puma Ocean Racing home in third place barring disaster and then some.
However, the fate of Ireland’s Green Dragon is not expected to be known until late in the weekend as skipper Ian Walker and his crew still had more than 400 miles to sail plus the prospect of meeting the same light winds that the leaders encountered.
A “park-up” by the Galway boat could allow fifth-placed Telefonica Blue, still nursing rig damage, to creep up as they did earlier this week and steal a march on Walker’s men.
