Ericsson 3 Leg Five Day 18

Intense morning

“It is not very nice to be woken up to gybe, but when you have went from being 20 miles behind the see the opponents when you come on deck, you feel pretty good anyway”, Martin Strömberg said an hour ago when he came on deck.

After 17 days of racing a couple of thousand miles behind, there is just a couple of hundred metres separation between the top three boats, us, Ericsson 4 and Puma.

It is a fantastic feeling that we are this close to each other and that it is only a couple of hundred miles left to the first scoring-gate. It is going to be tight and very exciting”, Magnus Olsson says and continues explaining how we managed to catch up with the leaders again:

“We have been trying to sail a bit lower than our opponents, who have sailed higher and faster. I think they are a bit afraid of us since we have made small gains the last to days, at least it feels like that.”

It was during the night that the big gains were made and at sunrise Ericsson 4 and Puma passed just in front of us on starboard tack. We kept on going for a while but then gybed on a good shift and made some good gains. Now it is really close.

“This light conditions may continue for a while but I have a feeling that we will pretty soon get headed and that the breeze will fill in. Then it is another game again”, Magnus Olsson finished and headed of for his bunk after an intense morning.

Gustav Morin - MCM