21.05.2006
ON THE DOCKSIDE WITH ABN AMRO ONE
On the dockside with skipper MIKE SANDERSON (NZ), navigator STAN HONEY (USA) and crew members ROBERT GREENHALGH (GBR), JUSTIN SLATTERY (IRL) and MARK CHRISTENSEN (NZ)
Mike Sanderson (NZ)
“It is amazing really. It is such a special moment. For me this is the Olympic medal, the climbing Everest, it’s a childhood dream to have skippered a boat and to have won the Volvo Ocean Race. I have been trying to hold back my emotions this whole race and now I can let them out.”
“It has been absolutely unbelievable. It has been the most amazing race with the most amazing team. We have been so tight as a team, from top to bottom.”
“Juan Kouyoumdjian [principle boat designer] has done an amazing job with this boat along with Killian Bushe [boat builder] and the rest of the team. They gave us exactly what we asked for and it is a very special boat.”
“This leg has been hideous from the start. Last night we had 52 knots and these boats are really full on. We were trying to keep the boat under 30 knots and it has just been really tough from day dot.”
“Two days into this leg we had a really nice lead but then the weather changed and we decided to give up our whole lead to get ourselves in a favourable position. We took everyone’s transoms but then managed to put the boat in a position where we made some nice gains.”
“From the minute we got the message about the man overboard, we didn’t know exactly which boat it was from, but I had that sinking feeling that it might be one of us. I emailed Si Fi (Simon Fisher – Navigator ABN AMRO TWO) straight away and he said that they had turned around and that Hans was in the water. It was a real kick in the stomach. We felt every minute that the guys were looking for him and they did an amazing job to get back to him. It was just tragic that it wasn’t soon enough.”
“He was a very experienced sailor – experienced enough to be on any of these boats. He was a great sailor and will be tragically missed.”
“We had to go on and finish this leg in first place and win the race – it is what Hans would have wanted.”
Stan Honey (USA)
“It was very tough in a lot of respects and obviously the tragic events, as well as what was a very difficult race tactically – it was a very difficult race in terms of the sailing.”
“Like the events over the last week, the fact that we have won the race hasn’t really sunk in yet. It has always been about the next turning point, the next decision; you try not to think about the bigger picture.”
Robert Greenhalgh (GBR)
“We are really pleased with this result. We didn’t need to win the leg but we did, we didn’t overly push too hard and it came out good for us. We didn’t do to well at the beginning but then we had nice reaching conditions for a week which got us up into the front. Then we had some real rough stuff recently and we hung on in there and made it through.”
“The Southern Ocean was really tough but you expect it to be, we were not necessary expecting it here at this stage of the race. It was really rough last night; we had 50 knots so that was pretty windy.”
Justin Slattery (IRL)
“This is defiantly the toughest transatlantic race that I have done. It was pretty heavy going condition wise, the waves were all over the place – plenty to deal with, but it came right for us in the end.”
“We had some horrific news halfway though the leg, something that none of us would have expected. It was a tragedy and we all really feel for the family and it really hit home for all the guys.”
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that we have won the Volvo Ocean Race. It is something that I have spent 15 years trying to do so give me a few days.”
“The boat is in good condition. I am very impressed with how the boat handled the conditions, we drove it through some pretty tough conditions and I think we practically had the boat airborne at one stage. It all held together and we sailed it in particularly difficult conditions very well.”
Mark Christensen (NZ)
“It’s quite an achievement really [to win the race] and it’s not something, when you start out, that you ever think will happen.”
“After finishing the last race I thought I really wouldn’t come back. I didn’t think I had anything else to prove. It’s a hard race to do and you have got to want to do it. That was until the new class of boat was announced and that’s what I really enjoy about this race, the development of the boat and the product, as I call it.”
Sacha Oswald, Travelling Press Officer in Portsmouth
Tel: +44 (0) 7816 275 498
Email: sacha.oswald@volvooceanrace.org
Lizzie Green Press Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant at race headquarters
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
- Further information can be found at www.volvooceanrace.org .
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