Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael (BRA) finish third on leg 9 from Marstrand to Sandhamn and are provisional winners for the overall race. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Riath Al-Samarrai
Ericsson 4 had the most emphatic champagne celebration, but to say Ken Read was pleased with PUMA's ninth leg would be a huge understatement.
For while Ericsson 4's third place was enough to give them the spoils of the Volvo Ocean Race war, PUMA claimed a battle that held no small amount of significance.
It has been thoroughly documented that Read's team, the race's bridesmaid's by his own earlier admissions, have been the nearly men of this event. They had taken top three spots at 11 of 16 offshore scoring opportunities coming into this leg and only claimed their first win of any sort in the Galway in-port race.
But offshore sailing is the essence of this event and their lack of ultimate glory on any of the legs had been a gaping hole on their scorecard. Tonight, in winning a fantastically close battle with Ericsson 3, they laid that ghost to rest.
"Winning boat races is something our crew have done their whole lives," Read said. "It has been frustrating, always being the bridesmaid, but you know what? It's better late than never.
"I feel so proud of the guys, the way they just never quit. This is a great result for us and I can't speak highly enough of the guys."
Not least because they now have a stranglehold on second place on the leaderboard. When Telefonica Blue reach Stockholm - they expect to do so later this week once repairs to their boat are complete - they will collect two points for finishing seventh, leaving them a full seven off PUMA with an in-port race and a leg to go.
Read admitted that a second place finish would be a "huge success".
He said: "I could never admit that early in the programme of course, but to be top two in an event like the Volvo on PUMA's first time, their first foray into this thing, would be a fantastic result."
As was Ericsson 3's second place. But there was a touch of bittersweet sentiment on the dock after they came home just one minute and 30 seconds behind PUMA. It was a tacking duel up to the Sandhamn finish line that was tight even by the extreme standards of this edition of the race - six of nine legs have been won by a margin of less than 90 minutes - and was only settled when Ericsson 3 caught a sheet on their radar during one of the final manoeuvres and surrendered top spot with the line in sight.
"I will gladly take this result," said skipper Magnus Olsson. "But I am disappointed that we didn't make first place because it was close. We were so close but lost it."
"That was so close," added Andrew Cape, the PUMA navigator. "The lead kept changing, it was so intense the whole way. We made mistakes that let them in and they made some and let us in."
Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl admitted the 525-nautical mile coastal race was similar to an in-port race in its intensity - a format the team has struggled with - and, therefore, said the team should be pleased with their result.
"It wasn't our game at the end there it was Ken Read's game," he said. "Even this kind of leg is similar to in-port racing, which is why we are quite happy being here in second because it is not completely our game. Small margins at this level and you get pushed out the back quite quickly. We have struggled a bit with the close manoeuvring and pressure, but second is a good result. We did really well creating opportunities for ourselves, but we stopped a little bit short. We can be happy though; it's a good result on a tough leg."
Indeed, watch leader Richard Mason anticipates he had "one hour and 40 minutes sleep" the whole trip. And Read added: "These short races I swear are harder than the long races. You can't get any sleeping pattern whatsoever. Everyone is up for every manoeuvre and if you're not you lose."
Ericsson 4 lost on this occasion, but in the bigger picture they have reigned supreme. Their reaction will follow separately.
Telefonica Black finished fourth and their skipper Fernando Echavarri lamented his yacht's lack of downwind speed. He said: "We are not as fast as the others, especially downwind and that always makes the difference. We are there, and then the angles go high for running and we suffer a lot. That's the story of this Volvo Ocean Race for us.
"It was mostly about speed.... it was a fast leg, much faster than we anticipated.
"We are still hoping for a podium. We only have one more opportunity, so we will try to do it. It's not finished for two more weeks."
Green Dragon took fifth on the back of successive podiums and navigator Ian Moore remained upbeat after his team passed Delta Lloyd in the later stages: "We were second out of Marstrand but everybody just came past us. Delta Lloyd just came past us doing about 1.5 knots faster. So we just thought, 'well, let's see what happens...' And we got them later in the transition."
Volvo Ocean Race
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