Brazilian skipper Torben Grael led Ericsson 4 to claim the first points of leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro by passing the scoring gate at 36 degrees South on early Wednesday morning.

Telefonica Blue's crewman David Vera changes the sail during leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro. [Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race]

However, it was second-placed Ericsson 3, led by Swede Magnus Olsson, which stole all the interest with its unexpected sailing route.

Grael and his International crew picked up four points early Wednesday morning (00:21 GMT) as they crossed the gate and were closely followed by their stable-mate Ericsson 3 (00:53 GMT).

Ericsson 3's all-Nordic crew then boldly tacked to the northeast and away from the fleet. Olsson has officially put all his trust in his young navigator Aksel Magdahl, who believes that the best course is to the north of the high pressure between them and Cape Horn rather than heading south.

Despite PUMA's crew pushing flat out towards the gate, the boat helmed by American Ken Read crossed the line a mere 10 minutes after the Nordic crew. Next came Telefonica Blue followed by the Green Dragon about an hour behind.

Read described his disappointment after battling nightmare sailing conditions.

"In the end it was not to be and they (Ericsson 4) beat us to the gate by about five miles with E3 sneaking into second (place) two miles ahead of us," he said. "On top of this, the conditions last night and today have been nothing short of horrible: blasts reaching in 25 to 30 knots is the most uncomfortable angle on these boats - wet, really wet!"

With four of the fleet heading south to get around the high pressure and inevitably make their way further into the Southern Ocean, it was PUMA in the lead at 13:00 GMT yesterday with Ericsson 4 nine nautical miles behind on the leader board. However in real terms, Ericsson 4 are 103 nm to the southwest of Il Mostro with Telefonica Blue and Green Dragon to the northwest of them with only two miles in between.

Telefonica Blue captain Bouwe Bekking was happy to pass the Dragon to take fourth at the gate.

"So we beat the odds to actually pass one team to the scoring waypoint, I had never expected that,: he said, adding that the upcoming Southern Ocean trawl "looks to be a very tricky affair."

"This meant as well that one boat (Ericsson 3) has taken the option for a northerly route. If that route will win them the leg, they will write history, as up to now in all the legs down south, the south has won," he said.

Ericsson 3 smoked through the scoring gate and tacked to head northeast. It plunged down the rankings when she tacked away. The thinking was that by heading north, Ericsson 3 would beat over the high pressure system and hook up on a small low on the approach to the first of the ice gates.

The first gate is located southeast of New Zealand and the second is approximately 1,500 miles west of Chile. In both cases the protocol is the same: a team must be on or north of the designated latitude at some point between the two stated lines of longitude.

Once the fleet have dealt with the ice gates they must face the infamous Cape Horn - the second scoring gate on this leg.

As of 10:00 GMT yesterday, Ericsson 4 was leading the fleet with 6,707 miles to go before reaching Rio as Ericsson 3 trailed by under 100 miles. They are expected to arrive in Brazil during the last week of the month.

(China Daily March 6, 2009)