Pirates win final leg of Volvo Ocean Race

by Volvo on 18 Jun 2006 At 13:44 GMT and six seconds, to the cheers of thousands of spectators lining the banks and hundreds of boast on the water, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Black Pearl, skippered by Paul Cayard crossed the final finish line of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005/2006 to take line honours for the first time in the event. They beat ABN AMRO TWO by just four minutes and 50 seconds.

It has been a long journey for Cayard and his crew, but they said that they would be on the pace by the time he race was at Rio and while not completely there then, he has proven himself true to his word by this win.

On finishing, Paul Cayard said:

'This couldn’t have been scripted better by anyone in Holly wood. I feel bad for the ABN AMRO TWO guys, but at the end of the day, we were racing to win, so we had to take advantage of the situation.'

'This is the best welcome into any port that I have ever seen. Gothenburg couldn’t have welcomed us any bigger and you can’t go out on a higher note than that.'

'We were one of the most consistent boats with 11 podium places. That’s smart sailing. We were in last place a couple of days ago and we got lucky. It’s all over now. We have a great group of guys, we’ve had our down moments, but no one quit and we just did what champions do and pull together.'

Race patron HRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden was waiting on the dockside to welcome the Pirates and to present the trophies to Paul Cayard and his team for winning this leg and also to Sebastien Josse for finishing second. Joining the Prince were Fredrik Arp, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation and Leif Johansson, president of AB Volvo.

ABN AMRO TWO will be pleased and devastated at the same time. They led for the last third of the race, only to fall into a wind hole in the last hours. They will be pleased with most of the leg, but kicking themselves that they allowed Pirates to sail round them.

Skipper Sebastien Josse, said:

'It good for us to be back on the podium. We are little disappointed not to be first, but sometimes you pay and sometime you win. If I can do a good campaign I would love to come back and do another Volvo Ocean Race.'

'We have had some good results but for this young team with the second boat and I think it is good for the future.'

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At 14:32 GMT and 15 seconds, Brasil 1 crossed the finish line to take third place on Leg 9, just 43 minutes, 19 seconds behind ABN AMRO TWO. The popular Brazilians were trying to beat Pirates of the Caribbean and put four boats between them to get through to second overall, but alhough they were able to do it for some of the time, they couldn't hold on to it and eventually had to be satisfied with third.

Torben Grael, said: 'It feels very good to have finished third overall especially after a very difficult second leg. For our project it is a very great achievement to finish third.'

With this finish, the overall podium is decided. Overall winner is ABN AMRO ONE, then Pirates followed by Brasil 1; ABN AMRO TWO, Ericsson and Brunel bringing up the rear.

The big prizegiving is tomorrow where the great and the good, the competitors and the organisers will let their hair down.