Another 1-2 for Ericsson

Torben Grael and Magnus Olssen reach Boston 12 minutes apart

Ericsson Racing Team continued its dominance of the Volvo Ocean Race today when Torben Grael and Magnus Olsson respectively brought Ericsson 4 and 3 finished first and second on leg six from Rio de Janeiro to Boston. The two Ericsson teams shared the same top two positions on the previous leg from Qingdao in China to Rio, but in that case, Ericsson 3 came out on top.

Ericsson 4 crossed the finish at 2105GMT (1605 local) last night recording an elapsed time of 15 days, 10 hours 30 minutes and 54 seconds.

Skipper Torben Grael said: “It feels fantastic. I think we had a very good leg. We were always very close to the other boats. I think it was very important when we gybed a few days ago. After that, there were not many options. We just managed to keep the front, which was not easy.

“Even here at the end, when it looked like it was okay, the wind was very light with sea breeze fighting the land breeze. It was a very hard job, but a very good result for us. It couldn't be better. It's one more step towards our objective. Normally, regattas in the United States give me luck. This is another one of them.”

British navigator Jules Salter added, “It was very hard work, probably the hardest, but we had a lot of luck to get this win. People talk about strategy and reading books, but I think it comes down to luck. We knew our sails and our crew work was good, but it was never certain until we were over the finish. I’ve had 30 minutes sleep in the past day. Really, the whole leg has been a bit like that.”

Of the closeness of the competition Trimmer Tony Mutter added: "That seems to be a thing with this race. You get ahead and the invisible hand pushes you back when the guys behind bring up the new breeze. They came right up to half mile behind. But last night we were able to sail away by about 7 or 8 miles."

Leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race was led for the most part by Bouwe Bekking and Telefonica Blue which pulled into the lead having taken an option to sail close to the Brazilian coast on the first night of the race. At one point they held a 100 mile lead but last Thursday as the boats had to gybe northwest for Boston, around 600 miles out from the line, Grael's team had pulled into the lead.

What is most impressive about this leg is just how close it was. After more than 15 days and 4,900 miles of racing, Ericsson 3 pulled into Boston at 2117 GMT, just 12 minutes after her team mates, followed just five minutes later by Telefonica Blue.



Upon his arrival Ericsson 3 skipper, Magnus Olsson was still nursing a bruised back after he was washed into the guardrail around the starboard steering pedestal on day six. He was confined to his bunk and administered ibuprofen painkillers. Soon after the injury it appeared he might have to be removed from the yacht, but Olsson was determined to finish the leg.

He said: “Of course we are really happy. My back is not too bad, the pain at the beginning was a lot, but my crew did all the work. Telefónica Blue was coming in from behind and we kept watch on them. We have all had our problems and Ericsson 4 didn’t have a watermaker, but we wouldn’t have beaten them. Maybe next time!”

Both Ericssons encountered breakdowns. Ericsson 4's water maker broke three days ago, leaving them with a reverse osmosis hand pump to make water for coffee and cooking the freeze-dried meals. The crew eagerly devoured fast-food burgers and soda upon arrival in Boston. On Ericsson 3, a halyard shackle broke about four days ago, and the crew lost the asymmetric spinnaker it was attached to when the sail fell into the water and under the boat.

Over the last 24 hours Telefonica Blue had managed to regain third place from local favourites Ken Read and his Puma. A relieved Bouwe Bekking said on his arrival: “We had a really good come back after two horrible days. Passing Puma and nearly catching Ericsson 3 was great. It has been fantastic and it is really nice to be back here. We have had some shocking times, but we have come back to a real high”.

Scoring 3.5 points for second place behind Telefonica Blue at the scoring gate of Fernando de Noronha and eight points for a leg win, Ericsson 4 extends her overall lead to 77.5 points. Telefónica Blue moves up to second overall with 64.5 points, only half a point ahead of Puma. Ericsson 3 has a total of 53 points, which is good enough for fourth place on the overall leaderboard.

Puma finally arrived in Boston today at 2312 GMT (1812 local) to claim fourth. The US team had flirted regularly with the podium position right until the end of the leg.

“For us, this leg had a bitter sweet ending," said Read. "Fourth is not exactly the result we were looking for coming in to Boston, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. It was one of those legs where nothing seemed to go our way. I wish I could say it was effort, the boat, or the sails but I can’t, it just wasn’t our leg. In the end we were fourth best today. Ericsson 4 got a fourth before, everyone has a leg like this. However, we had some great, close, exciting racing up here from Brazil and the whole team is happy to be here in Boston, a place that we can call home.

“With a chance at third, we had a great day yesterday, but this morning we were literally becalmed while Telefonica Blue, who finished third, sailed away on the seaward side of the channel. But, today is about so much more. We have now arrived in the place where it all began. 11 days short of one year ago, this boat was christened by Salma Hayek at the Institute of Contemporary Art next door to us right now. In our Boston to Boston journey round the world since then, we have sailed exactly 48,182 miles on il mostro. We’ve done that in less than one year, and obviously we still have a few miles to go to reach Russia, where we complete this race and the total overall journey.”

He added: “It’s good to be home. It feels like a long way we’ve been already. This is not exactly the result we wanted, but it’s great to be here.”

Navigator Andrew Cape talked through their tactics, saying, “These races are never easy. With two boats in a line, it is always going to be tactical. We did our best, but it didn’t work out. You make your own luck, but it didn’t go our way. Even after the first day, we had to claw our way back. It may have looked like we weren’t positioning ourselves well, but we knew where we were going and what we wanted to do."

Today there are set to be some more close finishes. Over the last 24 hours Fernando Echavarri's Telefonica Black has overtaken Delta Lloyd to claim fifth place. At the 0655 GMT sched this morning, she was 19 miles from the finish line but with Delta Lloyd only two miles behind her with Ian Walker's Green Dragon bringing up the rear some 45 miles further behind.

Leg Six finishing order

1. Ericsson 4: 8 points
2. Ericsson 3: 7 points
3. Telefónica Blue: 6 points
4. Puma: 5 points

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) 77.5 points (FINISHED)
2. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 64.5 points (FINISHED)
3. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) 59.0 points (FINISHED)
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 53.0 points (FINISHED)
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) 42.0 points (RACING)
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) 25.0 points (RACING)
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) 18.0 points (RACING)
8. Team Russia 10.5 points (DNS)