Ericsson confirms domination of Volvo race

Monday, April 27, 2009 at 9:32 PM Posted by Beijing News


Sweden's Ericsson 4 confirmed its domination of the Volvo round-the-world race when it captured the Rio-to-Boston sixth stage of the event, despite pressure from Spain's Telefonica Blue.

The yacht skippered by Brazil's two-time Olympic gold medalist Torben Grael on Sunday edged its sister boat Ericsson 3 and Telefonica Blue at the end of a stage of 4,900 nautical miles.

The two Swedish entries, the best prepared and the best funded of all the teams, had also taken the top two places in the fifth stage between Qingdao in China and Rio, with Ericsson 3 taking the honours there.

"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," said Grael.

Ericsson 4 confirmed its position atop the leader board for the event, with 77.5 points, as well as its status as race favorite, even though there remains two months and three stages to go.

Ericsson 4's great rivals before the start of the event, Telefonica Blue were still hopeful taking the event, despite being overtaken by both Swedish teams as the yachts approached Boston.

But Telefonica Blue's Dutch skipper Bouwe Bekking said he was relieved to finish third.

"We had a really good comeback after two horrible days," he said. "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."

The Spaniards are 13 points behind Ericsson 4 in the overall classification but snatched the second place from US entry Puma Ocean Racing, which came fourth in Boston and was also very disappointed at failing to win the stage in its home country.

"Nothing seemed to go our way. I wish I could say it was the boat, but we just kept tripping over little things," said Puma skipper Ken Read.

Ericsson 4 "don?t seem to make any mistakes, we have to give them credit, good for them."

The yachts leave Boston on May 16 for Galway in Ireland, after an in port race on May 9.

The Volvo Ocean Race, which began in Alicante, Spain in October, is to conclude in St Petersburg, Russia, in June after nine months negotiating 10 stages over 37,000 nautical miles.





Neal

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