Motorola back in contention in Volvo VX40 GP

by Volvo on 10 Jun 2006 The Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam provided some tricky conditions for the first day of the Volvo Extreme 40 grand prix racing series.

Team Motorola-CHR helmed by British Tornado sailor Leigh McMillan successfully mastered the light winds and tricky tides to finish the first day of the final grand prix series in first place overall. A second place in the first race was swiftly followed up with two race wins to give the British team of McMillan, Conrad Humphreys, Will Howden and Hamish Oliphant an early regatta lead. Team Motorola-CHR leads by four points to their nearest rival Team Tommy Hilfiger.

Skipper of Motorola-CHR, Conrad Humphreys was very pleased with his team’s performance,

'It was a good day for us but it was hard to be consistent in the conditions. Plus it’s nice to find some form after Portsmouth. I think the extra work on the foils has definitely made a difference. We have spent quite a bit of time on them.

The other important thing is to keep your cool when you are out there in not a lot of breeze because even if you are last you never know what can happen to the others.'

Team Tommy Hilfiger, the current overall series leaders also had a exciting day, skipper Randy Smyth commented, 'It was a great work out today!'. Crew member Jonathan Farrar spoke of the challenging conditions compared to the heavy weather they had in Portsmouth. 'It was pretty fickle breeze out there so it was hard to showcase the boats but I think we did a good job of it. We are really looking forward to sailing tomorrow outside in the sea off the Hoek van Holland. We should have lots more breeze and a great spectator fleet.'

Newcomer to the fleet Nigel Pitt, helming Volvo Ocean Race, is currently third today after scoring a 4-2-5 scoreline, followed by Basilica in fourth. James Grant skipper of the all British boat was obviously disappointed by their result today after winning the Portsmouth series.

'We took the wrong side so we had to tack twice and lost out to Tommy Hilfiger with the lack of breeze. But really it was only three races and we have 15 left so it’s all to play for. In Portsmouth we got full points on the first day and today we only managed 50% so if you average that out it’s not too bad. It was real game of snakes and ladders out there.'

Mitch Booth and his team on Holmatro came in fifth place despite getting the same points as Basilica.

On count back Basilica beat Booth in the last race after having level peggings till that point.

'It was a hard day for a sailor who wants to go racing today. Unfortunately the little wind made sailing very tricky out there. We saw a few good little rides at times which would have been good for the spectators and TV but for the sailors it was a tough day.'

Tomorrow the fleet will head out of the Maas to Hoek van Holland on the North Sea where they will race on the Volvo Open 70 in-port race course and greet the arriving Volvo Open 70’s.

The Volvo Extreme 40s will be towed out of the Maas and will race a number of short races before making a ‘dash for cash’ up the Maas where a 1000 Euro prize purse will be up for grabs.

Results, day 1
1st Motorola-CHR (2,1,1) 28 pts
2nd Tommy Hilfiger (1,3,2) 24 pts
3rd Volvo Ocean Race (4,2,5) 17 pts
4th Basilica (5,4,3) 15 pts
5th Holmatro (3,5,4) 15 pts

Overall Series Rankings (after four events)
1st Tommy Hilfiger 32 pts
2nd Basilica 30 pts
3rd Motorola-CHR 26 pts
4th Holmatro 24 pts
5th Volvo Ocean Race 20 pts