Ericsson 3 Back On Course

It's been a race against odds for the past two weeks to get Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) repaired, back in the water and to Qingdao in time for the start of leg five.  The team restarted leg four on 11 February at 2344 GMT from position 25 51.94N 121 52.97E.  The boat will cross the line in Qingdao, repack the boat and then restart leg five as soon as possible.

Onboard the yacht are seven members of the Nordic crew, including skipper Magnus Olsson, navigator Aksel Magdahl, boat captain Jens Dolmer, helmsman Thomas Johanson, Anders Dahlsjö, Martin Krite, Martin Stromberg and media crewman Gustav Morin.
 
After two weeks of hard work the boat is repaired and now there will be a race against time to reach Qingdao in time for the start of leg five on Saturday.
 
"We have really worked like maniacs," said Olsson. "The boat builders and sailors have fought around the clock and now we're back on track. I really want to give all the guys credit for a fantastic job."
 
The goal is to finish leg four and collect the four points available for being the fifth boat to Qingdao.
 
Ericsson’s meteorologist Chris Bedford is predicting a relatively fast passage, raising hopes that the crew might finish with enough time to load the boat and begin leg five to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the other four boats in the fleet.

At 1500 GMT today, Ericsson 3 had 445 nautical miles to go to the finish.  The boat was doing 24 knots and computer routing software was predicting a finish of 17 February in Qingdao.
 
ERICSSON 3 LEG FOUR

Just after sunset our heroic boat builders and all the other guys and girls that have been making our crazy fix possible waved us farewell. We left their tired but happy faces behind and are now on our way to the start line.

It was yesterday evening when we said goodbye to Hualien and Taiwan and are now heading towards Qingdao.

We were expecting heavy air - about 30 to 40 knots to come in during the night. After a couple of hours of motoring east and the breeze set in. We were doing 20 to 25 knots with our biggest asymmetric and life was wonderful for a while.

Everyone was tired from the intense period of dealing with the boat and everything that comes with it. To add to that we have been preparing for the next leg, changed skipper and got two new guys into the team. It’s a bit overwhelming but still it feels good and we are very motivated for the next leg.

Unfortunately we will first see our new crewmembers and Eivind Melleby, who had a pause during leg four in Qingdao. Now we are only eight guys onboard and we will certainly be warmed up and in full offshore mode by the time we get there…

Back to yesterday:  Unluckily the breeze did not last all night. When we reached the waypoint where we suspended racing there was no wind at all. We were trying to get east where the big breeze was but we were just drifting around. There was a lot of frustration at this moment, it was already extremely tight for us to make the start line in time and this did not make it easier.
But luckily, after a couple of hours the breeze came back and we are now driving slalom trough a crowd of Chinese fishing boats in 22 knots of wind about the same boatspeed and pretty flat water. It’s fantastic conditions, a huge contrast from what we experienced in these waters two weeks ago.

Gustav Morin - MCM