VOR: ERICSSON 3 LEG FOUR QFB: received 14 February 2009 0420 GMT

by Gustav Morin

Close but yet so far...

That is the situation for us on Ericsson 3. We have managed, with a massive effort from our shore crew, to get the boat ready in just a couple of days. We have sailed the boat to China with just seven sailing crewmembers. We have been through heavy sail changes in complete darkness and biting cold winds of 30 knots.

And now, only about 40 miles outside Qingdao, the wind has died. And there are only two hours until the start.

How about that for a frustrating moment?

Maybe if we would have left just one hour earlier we would have had some more breeze and made it. Maybe if we did that, or thought about that or planned that... we would have made it.

Who knows?

But, to be honest, we did everything we could and actually we left earlier than we, for a moment, thought was possible.

For sure the guys are bitter but now. We are in the stage of tiredness and frustration when we can only laugh at the situation and try to make the best of it. Even if it is hard to think about now, we are really happy to have reached China and to be able to do the next leg. We will soon have our four points for leg four and we will start to sail to Rio, instead of putting the boat on a ship.

We have probably 40 days to catch up. If our competitors get stuck in a no-wind area we can see that in the scheds, then we can choose another path and pass them.

We have far from given up.

Ericsson Racing Team

Volvo Ocean Race