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Saturday, November 15, 2008

The wind was below Five Knots/hour. Time was rapidly counting down to the start of Leg Two of the Volvo Ocean Race, a 4450 mile hike to Cochin, India.  It marks the first time the race has visited India. At 4.30 pm on Indian time a Race to history started in Cape Town, South Africa. Puma, Green Dragon and Erricson 4 were in the front line and the rest in the second line.

When the gun fired, Puma got a perfectly timed start. Outpacing most of the spectator fleet, and most of the rest of the race boats as well, they went to the best of the breeze. And this was the beginning of a historical sail to India-sail to the unknown sea.

For the last one week heavy wind has been the order in Cape Town. But yesterday the weather was Sunny and warm. It was the perfect re-start weather. There was barely a puff of wind blowing across the dock – “five knots tops” according Matt Gregory, the Team Delta Lloyd navigator.

New spreader for Green Dragon arrived from Amsterdam on Friday evening and was only fitted yesterday midnight. But they were also ready at the starting point. Green Dragon dealt a blow when they broke the spreader during a practice sail on Thursday. Team Management Immediately ordered new spreader and replaced it within 48 hours.

Yachts are expected to reach Cochin from 3rd December 2008. Third Leg to Singapore will start on 13th December. The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.

Skippers of Teams

Roberto Bérmudez de Castero (Delta Lloyd)
Torben Grael/BRA - skipper (Erricson 4)
Anders Lewander (Erricson 3)
Ian Walker skipper  (Green Dragon)
Ken Read (Puma Ocean Racing)
Andreas Hanakamp (Team Russia)
Bouwe Bekking (Telefonica Blue)