Ericsson Racing Team happy with boat speed

by Ericsson Racing Team on 5 Oct 2008
Ericsson Racing Team's two entries in the Volvo Ocean Race showed good boatspeed today during the Alicante In-Port Race, but were undone on the start line.

After each skipper said they had poor performances starting, Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 is placed fourth with 2.5 points and Anders Lewander's Ericsson 3 is seventh with .5 points.

'It wasn't a wonderful day, but it wasn't a disaster either,' said Grael, skipper of the International Crew on Ericsson 4. 'We're only 1.5 points behind after two disastrous starts.'

Grael, an accomplished Olympic skipper with two gold medals, is usually very solid on the start line. Although he put in fine efforts during the practice day, today he was undone by wind conditions that were hardly ideal, and that led to being over early in the second start.

A light south/southeasterly breeze between 6 and 9 knots was accompanied with wind shifts of up to 50 degrees and windless patches that resembled brick walls.

'In the first start the wind got light and I was a little late,' said Grael. 'In the second start, I got too greedy.'

Lewander had similar feelings with the Nordic Crew aboard Ericsson 3.

'We need better starts,' said Lewander. 'But we were able to sail through the fleet and recovered well. Our starts need to be more conservative. We were too far away from a conservative position. We got caught up in traffic.'

Despite the initial setbacks, both skippers felt their crews sailed well on the racecourse. Indeed, Ericsson 4 finished with two fourths and Ericsson 3 two fifths. The finishes were as good as could be expected on a day when the leaders were able to sail away from the pack.

In the second race, Grael and Ericsson 4 were in position to overtake third place approaching the last windward mark, but a sudden windshift headed the crew and they had to duck behind Telefónica Black. They made a good charge on the run to the finish to keep the pressure on, but the wind was too light to overcome their rival.

'We're happy that we were able to come back after the starts,' said Grael. 'With a little luck in a few situations we could be third.'

Lewander had a moment of trepidation at the leeward mark in the second race when he was blinded by the spinnaker. The mishap occurred due to a late decision on which mark to round at the gate, and that precipitated a late drop. When the spinnaker came down it blew back and covered Lewander at the port helm station.

'We should've realized earlier that mark was closer so we could've planned a better rounding,' said Magnus Olsson, the inshore strategist on Ericsson 3. 'We had bad starts and made a few bad decisions. But there's nothing wrong with the boatspeed. I think we can win a leg.'

The Spanish Telefónica boats were the impressive performers of the day. Telefónica Blue, skippered by race veteran Bouwe Bekking, won both races and leads the standings with 4 points. His stablemate, Telefónica Black, skippered by Fernando Echavarri, posted a 2-3 and is second with 3.5 points.

'I have to give Telefónica credit,' said Olsson, 'but I hope it shows they've gone with light-wind boats.'

Tomorrow is a scheduled Pro-Am Race, which doesn't count towards the overall standings.

The Volvo Ocean Race begins in earnest next Saturday, Oct. 11, when the fleet sets sail on a 6,500-nautical-mile leg to Cape Town, South Africa.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE STANDINGS (After Alicante In-Port Race)
1. Telefónica Blue (ESP) Bouwe Bekking, 4 points
2. Telefónica Black (ESP) Fernando Echavarri, 3.5 points
3. PUMA (USA) Ken Read, 3 points
4. Ericsson 4 (SWE) Torben Grael, 2.5 points
5. Green Dragon (CHN/IRE) Ian Walker, 2.0 points
6. Delta Lloyd (NED) Ger O'Rourke, 1.5 points
7. Ericsson 3 (SWE) Anders Lewander, 0.5 points*
8. Team Russia (RUS) Andreas Hanakamp, 0.5 points
(* Includes 1 point penalty as administered by International Jury)