SAILING VOLVO OCEAN RACE: A SMALL clearance in the forest of hundreds of ships off Singapore provided the race-track for the second in-port race series in the Volvo Ocean Race at the weekend, when the outcome further consolidated Torben Grael's grip of the event with the crew of Ericsson 4.
Unexpectedly fresh northerly winds, shifty and patchy close to the weather mark, mixed with a steady ebb-tide of almost two knots running across the area throughout the day to add to the challenge of a two-mile course faced by the seven boats, one fewer in number following the withdrawal of Team Russia at Christmas.
Ken Read's Puma Ocean Racing repeated its blistering pace first demonstrated in the breezy start of leg two in Cape Town when the American skipper accelerated away from the pack to convincingly beat overall event leader Grael into second place in the first of two races.
Third place was fought out between Bouwe Bekking on Spain's Telefonica Blue and Ireland's Green Dragon that saw the Galway boat narrowly edged out into fourth.
An hour later, the result of the second race saw the Green Dragon nicely set-up for a third place when skipper Ian Walker found himself in a light patch and had to watch as, first, Grael, then Bekking's sistership Telefonica Black edged ahead of him, followed by Puma, and eventually Walker had to settle for a disappointing result after a promising chance to reach the podium.
Good boatspeed for last-placed Team Delta Lloyd, owned by Limerick's Ger O'Rourke, was enough to overcome other issues, including a jammed spinnaker halyard that obliged the former race-winner to sail away from the course to free itself.
There was some consolation, however, in that Foynes sailor Ed O'Connor, the only Irish crew-member on board, received the Race Seamanship Award for leg three last night for his work in keeping the team in the race following serious structural damage to its keel-ram.
The seven teams are now concentrating on preparing for leg four of the event, widely predicted to be one of the toughest stages as the fleet heads for China in what will become winter conditions, including gale-force headwinds and freezing air temperatures.
