With the first two boats safely docked in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the next boat to finish the 5000 nautical mile leg five from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, will be Pirates of the Caribbean with American skipper, Paul Cayard. But progress for the Pirates has been slow going up the Chesapeake Bay and the team is still 12 miles from the finish.

The trip up the Chesapeake has been long and slow without much wind during the night. At one point the crew was considering using the kedge anchor to avoid going backwards with the current. “The last 48 hours have been trying. We have been slatting in flat calms with huge left over seas, dodging intense electrical storms, and beating upwind in a 30 knot squall,” said Pirate Paul.

Onboard Ericsson (John Kostecki), navigator Steve Hayles reported a really nasty squall which caused them to make a big loss yesterday on their immediate rivals, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael).

“We had been through a line of cloud a few minutes earlier with little or no increase in breeze, but this one was a whole different kettle of fish and pretty much ruined a good day,” said Hayles. “The breeze topped out at 52 knots and caused us no end of grief with a badly damaged upwind jib and a huge loss to the guys behind. This has made us even more determined and we know that it’s very hard to defend a small lead on the Chesapeake Bay, so we are fighting on hard.”

The fight will continue to the finish and currently Brasil 1 has the advantage, one mile ahead of Ericsson Racing Team, with 30 miles to cover to the finish. ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) is a further nine miles behind and chasing hard and sailing faster.

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