Ericsson 4 Leg Nine Day 1

The pack is pretty spread out now as we turn east along the bottom of Sweden and away from Denmark.

We are hot on the heels of Puma and have made some great gains into their lead in the last few hours - they had set themselves up for a tough fight with Telefónica Blue, who we doubt we will see again for some time - hitting the bricks at 14kts will have some catastrophic consequences, but the fight they have now is with us and after a shaky 
start we are happy to have someone to push.

Behind us Ericsson 3 and Telefónica Black are having a very tight tussle and we think that Delta Lloyd and Green Dragon are also paired up. The large flotilla that has been with us for most of the day has dwindled but it was great to see all the boats out of Malmo and Copenhagen this evening.

The sun set about 30 mins ago and we are now in the dark - although that will not last for long in these areas.

The wind has been stronger than anticipated and we hope that the parking lot we expect round the corner will not materialise - at present we are running in 16kts of wind and expect it to top out in the low 20s in the next few hours

More soon

Guy Salter - MCM