Ericsson 3, skippered by Magnus Olsson (SWE) at the start of leg 9 from Marstrand to Stockholm. Image copyright Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Gustav Morin
We have been in a very close battle with Telefónica Black almost since the start.
They have been in the front most of the time but a while ago we peeled to the big A4 gennaker a bit before the Spanish and we managed to pass them. Now we have a gap of a couple hundred metres.
This is actually the first time I have sailed this boat in waters I know, and this make it a bit clearer how fast these boats really are. We are passing city after city sooner than can upload pictures. This is by far the most intense leg in the race.
In the next coming hours we will gybe and start heading for the island Öland and we will go between Sweden and Bornholm.
We are trying to get some sleep and we have a couple of guys lying in their bunks on standby watch, which means they are ready to get up for any manoeuvre. Last leg we think we lost a lot from pushing too hard with no sleep and everyone had a down turn at the same time, which had a big effect on the decision making.
”The boat goes faster with more guys on deck, but only to a certain point, it is hard to find the balance”, says Magnus Olsson and continues: ”We are trying to be a bit smarter with the sleeping this time.”
Volvo Ocean Race
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