SailingPR - Sailing & Regatas

Hi all
As we get close to the finish line, there is a curious mix of relaxation and tension onboard. Relative relaxation, as we still have 250 miles to go and anything might happen. The curiosity is that mix: tension to be on shore and with the family, but also to get everything fixed for the next leg, and relaxed as we know we have done everything we could in this one. We were not very lucky sometimes and that’s all. Think ahead and we will see.

We are trapped in a high pressure now, which has slowed us down a bit, but we think we will limp across the finish line sometime between tomorrow and the next day. This is not bad at all with all the problems we have suffered.
We will see what happens today.

Looking forward to seeing you all.
Kisses
Mikel Pasabant - MCM

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG ONE DAY 24 QFB: received 03.11.08 0728 GMT

Yes, there are still boats on the water, and Telefónica Blue is one of them, but not for long, as the barn door is only 50 miles away.

So far so good, we have shaken the ruskies again back to a comfortable 60 miles. We sailed tactically well this last couple of days, and played the ’stealth’ card very well. Even though we are sailing for fifth position, the crew has been working as hard as if it had been for a 1st place. This is like winning an extra point and the position reports were followed with great interest.

From a team’s perspective, it is good to see that our mates on the black boat are moving well, and it looks like they will stay out of the grips of the high-pressure system, so gaining valuable time to do the necessary repairs.

I am proud of them. Ok, they had a little mishap, but they showed great pace in some stages of this leg and above all great seamanship to keep ‘racing’. Well done boys.

So, another 3 hours and we are there, everybody looking forward to see their families and loved ones. Holiday…no, not immediately, first all our medical checks and debriefs, then we will find time to relax.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Nov. 3, 2008) - Swedish skipper Anders Lewander led Ericsson Racing Team’s Nordic crew on Ericsson 3 to third place on Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race. The crew finished this morning at 0408 GMT with an elapsed time of 22 days, 16 hours and 8 minutes.

Ericsson 3’s finish completed a solid start to the circumnavigation race for Ericsson Racing Team. Yesterday morning skipper Torben Grael and the International crew on Ericsson 4 won the opening leg and became overall race leaders.

Nearly 24 hours later it was Ericsson 3’s turn in the limelight. Skipper Lewander, who turned 45 yesterday, led his crew across the
Table Bay finish line engulfed in an atmosphere warm with heartfelt cheers from teammates, friends, fans and loved ones. Ericsson 3
earned 4 points for the placing and now has 5 points in the overall standings.

“It’s a great moment in life,” said the skipper. “After all this hard, hard work, it’s an amazing team. We have great team spirit.
This is a great birthday present. And a big congrats to Ericsson 4, what an enormous achievement to do 600 miles. It’s amazing how hard they must’ve driven the boat. It’s very impressive to see.”

The Nordic crew is comprised of skipper Lewander, navigator Aksel Magdahl, watch captains Richard Mason and Magnus Olsson, trimmers Anders Dahlsjö, Jens Dolmer, Thomas Johanson and Stefan Myralf, helmsman Eivind Melleby, bowman Martin Krite and media crewman Gustav Morin.

Through a challenging leg that tested them, the crew showed a resiliency that belies their lack of Volvo race experience. Only the
two watch captains have completed a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Skipper Lewander is the only other crewmember with circumnavigation experience. The other eight are all first-timers, and King Neptune had a busy time at the Equator.

The first half of the 6,500-nautical-mile leg went well for the crew. Alongside their teammates on Ericsson 4, they led the fleet through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic Ocean. Over the next eight days the Nordic crew constantly factored in the fleet lead, and on Oct. 18 they were all alone in the top spot approaching the Doldrums.

The passage through the Inter-Tropic Convergence Zone was sooner forgotten. On Oct. 22 Ericsson 3 had plummeted to sixth in the standings, 180 nautical miles behind the leaders.

After clearing the scoring gate down the standings in seventh, the crew found their spirits down as well. Then Olsson, a five-time
veteran of the Volvo race and past champion in 1997-’98, lent his perspective. He convinced them to forget the recent hardships and focus on the remainder of the leg. There’s always a chance for a comeback on a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, he reasoned.

“What can you do but cheer everyone up,” said Olsson, who has logged more than 150,000 nautical miles in the Volvo race and is never short of joie de vivre. “This third is a victory for the team. It’s one of my most satisfying, by all means. I really appreciate this third place.”

The crew’s chance for redemption swept in on the same storm that propelled Ericsson 4 to the 24-hour speed record. While Ericsson 4 was racking up a run or 602.66 nautical miles (pending ratification), Ericsson 3 put up a 540 run and hit a new top speed of 35 knots.

Drawing from their extensive heavy weather training in the Canary Islands and leaning on helmsman Johanson, Mason, Myralf and Olsson, the Nordic crew surfed up through the fleet, sailed past rivals and landed in third place. From there, they played a solid tactical game to grab the third spot on the podium.

“The whole attitude of wanting to come back and hit the top of fleet, because we knew we could be there, that was the drive,” Lewander said. “It was great for team spirit to recover. I’m very happy with that. It shows we have opportunities for the future, but there’s a lot of racing left.”

Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, to Cochin, India, is scheduled to begin Nov. 15.

Ken Read - skipper

I don’t know where to start. I am so proud of our design team and our build team for putting together the boat. Honestly, I think all the guys on our boat have never pushed a boat that hard before.

Hats off to the Ericsson guys. They showed us clearly that there is might be another level that we need to get to. But, that said, I’ve never gone airborne off the waves before and lived to tell the tale. It’s quite a comforting feeling, from here on, knowing how hard you can push. Now we can sit down as a group and figure out where that next speed button is. We are pretty comfortable with where we are at.

I thought we paced ourselves pretty well. It’s pretty rare that we had to get guys completely out of their sleeping patterns. A couple of guys got pretty taxed in the windy stuff, because we were down to a smaller group of drivers. I think right now, most people are pretty refreshed. We are ready to go tomorrow. We’re ready to go.

We had a few little issues. We had our primary water maker go down when we were off Brazil. That was a little nerve-racking. We actually talked about going into Brazil for a while, but Casey Smith put together a new water maker using a bilge pump. We had some hydraulic keel problems, but structurally we think that the boat is in really good shape.

Seeing where we’ve come from - there was no such thing as PUMA ocean Racing a year ago - so second place is great.

I am very proud of our sailors, our team as a whole, from the boat builders to the office staff.

Andrew Cape – navigator

I haven’t sailed into Cape Town for 11 years, it’s a great place to arrive. It was a good leg all-in all. Happiness all round.

There were bad conditions and most people got through it well. It’s a good sign.

We still had a lot of light air in the Med, then the running and then a lot of reaching and then the hard stuff getting here, so it was mixed bag. Because we haven’t two boat tested against a new boat, we were learning all the time. We’ve learnt a lot and I’m very happy with what we have learnt and where we ended up here.

Ericsson 4 did a good job to sail through us when it was windy, but we were finding our own way there, and we were happy with what we were doing. I guess we were second best, but all-in-all, happy.

It was a great race, with a great team. We are still learning, and for us this first leg was a learning experience.

We had a good leg but Ericsson was lucky to ride that front all the way here. They made it look easy.

It was tight out there, but that is what racing is about. No boats were mega fast or slow, it was a great race.

The next position report will be issued at 1300 GMT or as soon as the next boat finishes, whichever is the sooner. Positions are available every three hours on www.volvooceanrace.org. Click on RESULTS at the top of the page to go straight to the points table and onboard data.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Nov. 2, 2008) - Ericsson Racing Team is expecting Ericsson 3, skippered by Anders Lewander, to arrive in Cape
Town in the early hours tomorrow morning, Monday.

It has been a busy day for Ericsson Racing Team following the arrival of Ericsson 4 this morning. The shore team has already begun its work
and will be taking Ericsson 4 out of the water later today.

Ericsson 3 has had a more than eventful leg, leading the fleet with her stablemate Ericsson 4 through the Straits of Gibraltar. The
Nordic-crewed boat then had a challenging passage through the Doldrums before having to stop briefly at the scoring gate in Brazil
for a spare part.

The past days have seen them in a close tussle for third place with Green Dragon, and this afternoon’s poll shows them some 31 miles
ahead of the Irish/Chinese-flagged boat.

“Everything is getting to its edge now. We are still battling the Green Dragons and the situation feels close and stressful. Not the
least after a few tricky situations today,” said Gustav Morin, media crewman aboard Ericsson 3.

“Yesterday we had a couple of bad sail changes. That was not good from our side. But today we have been purely unlucky,” Morin said.
“First we had a rip in our A4 and had to take it down, repair it and as soon as possible hoist it again.

“A couple of hours later we are getting really frustrated with the boatspeed and it turns out that we have a big plastic bag wrapped
around the fin,” Morin continued.

“We can’t get it of just by swinging the keel, so we have to take the gennaker down, stop the boat and try to go backwards. A risky
maneuver that will cost us a lot of time and distance to our close opponent, but we have to do it.”
Lewander and his crew are unaware that a new keel fin awaits them dockside in Cape Town, which will replace the current keel that was
deemed non-compliant by the Rules Management Group in Alicante and for which Ericsson 3 has been penalized 4 points.

Ericsson Racing Team Managing Director, Richard Brisius, said, “It is a major achievement by the manufacturers, designers and everyone
involved in the logistics.

A lot of people have spent a lot of time and effort making sure that this happens. And all credit to them.”

While the crew of Ericsson 4 begins a much deserved break in Cape Town, Brisius admired the International crew’s win.

“In the early morning light of Table Bay, surrounded by whales and dolphins, two years of preparation all fell into place,” said
Brisius. “The achievement of the whole crew, from Torben in the back of the boat to Blood and Ryan on the bow, is second to none but this
is just leg one and we have some 35,000 miles left to go. It will be a fantastic race!”

Dealing with Jerry Kirby is like dealing with a little kid in the back seat of the family wagon on the way to summer holiday.

Jerry: “How much longer?”
Kenny: “200 miles”
Jerry: “How long will it take?”
Kenny: “I don’t know, about 14 hours?”

5 minutes later

Jerry: “How much longer now?”
Kenny: “”two miles less than the last time you asked”
etc etc

There is some serious angst to get off this family wagon. And it is interesting, for 20 days, I haven’t looked at the date, the time, the distance to finish but, all of a sudden, we all have a time clock that switches on that says–”ok, enough is enough and it is time to go now”. It could be the Block Island Race or the Bermuda Race or the 22-day first leg of the Volvo Race. When you can smell the finish, it is time to get off. I would also like to officially follow up this thought by announcing that by no means does my admitting to wanting to have this leg over with as badly as the next guy, does it mean that I’m not going to punch Kirby hard if he asks one more time “are we there yet?”

In a nutshell, this leg has been fantastic for us. It looks as though, barring any disasters, we will be second. On a tough leg that saw all ranges of conditions. We like our boat, that hasn’t changed. We got faster thanks to a lot of sailing near other boats. We know that there are teams better polished out there and we need to get better to beat them. We understand the rigours of what it will take to win this race better. And our pre-race view that the race will be close and the boats will be pushed harder than ever has rung very true.

Congratulations to E4. They hung around long enough to stretch their legs when they had the chance. They are the proof that “pushing hard” now has an entire new meaning. Many of the Volvo vets from the last race aboard our boat said that we pushed this boat in the rough conditions tons harder than any of the boats were pushed in the last race. Much of that has to do with a bit of trepidation of the unknown and the fact that the keel structures were a new concept and a bit fragile in the last Volvo.

Well, I think that all participants and sponsors alike are pleased with what we have seen so far. These boats are tough and can get pushed harder than most of us ever realised. Will make for a fascinating race I hope. Sure, we all have our snags aboard, but hopefully the trend for the entire fleet remains that the boats are dependable. Go ahead and race hard.

Finally, as all the crews get ready for their families and friends and relatives, a good meal, warm shower and cold beer- it is time to begin concentrating on leg two and what it takes to step up to the next level. Long race this is, but it is nice to have this long first leg under our belt.

Hello Cape Town. But we can’t get too relaxed by your hospitality because in two weeks we will be saying “India- here we come”.

Kenny Read - skipper

Everything is getting to its edge now. We are still battling The Green Dragons and the situation feels close and stressful. Not the least after a few tricky situations today.

Yesterday we had a couple of bad sail changes. That was not good from our side. But today we have been purely unlucky. First, we had a rip in our A4, had to take it down, repair it, and as soon as possible hoist it again.

A couple of hours later we are getting really frustrated with the boat speed. It just doesn’t feel good. That feeling has been bugging us for a few hours and now someone thought we might look in the stethoscope, from where you can se the keel.

It turns out that we have a big plastic bag wrapped around the fin. We can’t get it of just by swinging the keel, so we have to take the gennaker down, stop the boat and try to go backwards. A risky manoeuvre that will cost us a lot of time and distance to our close opponent. But, we have to do it.

Anders Dahlsjö prepared for a swim to get the bag of, but we managed to solve the problem just by backing the boat.

The guys did a great job and everything went smoothly. But it is extremely frustrating that something like that happened now. Like it wasn’t exciting and nerve-racking enough from before.

We have also made a few gybes today, which take quite an effort on these boats. You can really start to see tendencies of tiredness now. The big psychological part of the game has reached its peak.

Some of the guys are tired and it’s easier to make mistakes and to get grumpy about things you wouldn’t even think of if you were rested. Add to that the big stress level it is to be racing closely for days and days and when you are only one day from finish. The game is still close and you can’t afford to do anything wrong.

Now we are in good pace again and hoping that the next position-report will be good. In any case, we will fight to the end. Keeping the mood and pace up.

Gustav Morin - MCM

The Green Dragon has 260 miles and a couple of gybes to go before arriving in Cape Town. We are now moving OK but still 10% slow due to whatever damage is under our boat. This should be enough to hold off Telefónica Blue who is 100 miles back, but you can never be sure of anything I am told approaching Cape Town.

Things have calmed right down on board and attention is now focused on getting job lists sorted out for Cape Town and on looking forward to some days off. Our shore crew on the other hand will go from having had some time off to working every hour that God sends.

It has been an amazing leg with something for everyone. Four or five boats have held the lead, we have had tight tactical battles and then, of course, a week of battering by strong winds including a record 24 hour run (or several I suspect).

The strangest thing for us is not actually knowing half of what has gone on. We are not allowed news of the race so we have no idea why Telefónica Blue stopped in Gibraltar, or why Telefónica Black is so slow now. Others must be wondering why we are so slow now. Without our collision, we would be comfortably holding 3rd place.

I hope there have been no serious injuries but I am sure there will have been some bumps. Guo Chuan’s nose is nice and swollen and bruised now and we have told him to tell everyone that Tom Braidwood punched him.

There is only one thing for it in Cape Town and that is to get in the bar and trade some war stories as sailors love to do. My story will be of our nighttime collision and the ensuing panic-stricken thoughts and of a multitude of nosedives from which I saw no escape. Somehow, we did escape and the rig is still up.

The last thing our sponsor said to me in Alicante was to ‘not sink the boat’ and I have a feeling we came closer than we intended but so far so good. If we can get 4th with the stage win at Fernando, this will have been a very good leg for us. It has certainly been an amazing experience and makes me wonder what lies ahead. If anybody reading this is already in Cape Town, I’m the tired looking, balding bloke with a beard and mine’s a pint of lager please.

Ian Walker - skipper

Hi everybody
We are 600 miles away and back to the penguin’s land. As we get closer south, it gets chilly. Hope in the next hours we head up north - it is a little bit warmer up there! Still going fast, under the circumstances, so everything depends upon what might be waiting for us off Cape Town, weather slowing us down or not. Incognita? Weather changes so abruptly down here that you never know.

The crew is in good condition and spirit, and the comment is the size of the meat loaf each of us is eating in Cape Town! And about the dressing and wine! It seems we don’t like very much the delicious and tasty food on board! I do not understand it! Such delicious food! Eaten in doggy’s plates! Yummy…

Well. Just 600 miles to go.

Kind regards and tomorrow more
Mikel Pasabant - MCM

First of all congratulations to Torben and his boys. They sailed a blinder of a race from the scoring waypoint to the finish. Well done.

Yesterday we just managed to sail officially in the southern ocean, but luckily the wind direction changed and we could gybe, to bring us back into warmer waters. It will show if our tactics will pay against the ruskies, who have been gaining slowly but steadily against us.

If our predictions are right, we will gain a couple of miles back again, by taking advantage of the wind shift to come over the next couple of hours. The only thing what we don’t know, is if this will work out since they have gone into their invisible (stealth) mode. Time will tell.

The breeze will slowly drop on our way to Cape Town and not having our big spinnaker anymore will be a disadvantage in these conditions, since it blew apart again. And we have run out of repair material, so we have to use smaller sails.

For the rest, the boat is in good shape, of course we have a job list for our shore crew, but we could have easily carried on for another leg. The other good news is that we will just manage with our fuel. We have gone through a massive power reduction, switching even things off like the GPS and as well a minimum usage of the media equipment. We have 135 litres of emergency fuel onboard, but any usage of that and it means the hassle of explaining that to the jury. So better this way. But the best news is that none of the guys are injured, and that we all learned a heck of lot more about our boat.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper