21.05.2006
Ericsson realises potential, and Pirates capture third
Ericsson Racing Team with Britain’s Neal McDonald in charge, crossed the finish line on a wet and windy day in Portsmouth, UK, after nine days, 19 hours, 26 minutes and 39 seconds of racing, to finish second in the Volvo Ocean Race leg seven from New York. This is the best offshore result for Ericsson so far in the Volvo Ocean Race after the promising start they made when winning the first in port race in Sanxenxo, Galicia, at the start of the event in November last year.
A shattered, but exhilarated Neal McDonald (UK), said:
“It was a pretty wild trip and I am very pleased to be back in my home country especially with my wife and family here.
“The guys did a great job, but obviously it is overshadowed by the tragic death of Hans Horrevoets. I am very proud of my team and we sailed conservatively throughout the leg, especially after we heard the sad news. Sailing at any level is pretty tough and there were times on this leg when we felt like we were in the Southern Ocean.”
Navigator Mark Rudiger (USA) said: “I have never had a transatlantic crossing where I have had to beat so much, it is meant to be a downwind leg. It just got crazier and crazier. There was water showering in through the boat. I thought the VO 60s were wet, but they are nothing like these boats. The team sailed the boat extremely well and we came together when we needed to. This is an outstanding victory.
Paul Cayard brought Pirates of the Caribbean home in third place, just 28 minutes behind the Swedish team, bringing their overall points up to 55 and putting the Pirates into second place overall. On finishing, Cayard said:
“We had a lot of breeze out there and a very rough sea. The guys did a great job keeping the boat together and thankfully we are all here and the boat is in good shape.
“It was a real tough trans-Atlantic. It was the toughest we have done and it doesn’t take much in this type of boat to make the situation difficult.
“As far as the race is concerned, we are very happy with our position and managing to add to our points and give us a bit of a cushion on second place overall.”
The next boat to finish will be Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) which will finish within the hour.
LEG SEVEN LEADERBOARD – SUBJECT TO RATIFICATION
Leg Position
Yacht
Leg Points
Scoring Gate Points
Total Leg Points
FINISH TIME
ELAPSED TIME
Overall Race Points
Position Overall
1
ABN1
7.0
3.5
10.5
20/05/06 23:30:42
009d 06h 30m 42s
81.0
1
2
ERIC
6.0
3
9.0
21/05/06 12:26:39
009d 19h 26m 39s
43.5
6
3
POTC
5.0
2.5
7.5
21/05/06 12:54:20
009d 19h 54m 20s
55.0
2
LEG SEVEN DAY 10, 1600 GMT POSITION REPORT
Leg Position
Yacht
Latitude
Longitude
DTF
SMG
DTL
DTL-C
Projected Leg Points
Scoring Gate Points
Total Projected Leg Points
Estimated time of arrival
Projected Overall Race Points
Projected Position Overall
4
BRA1
50 35.59N
001 53.94W
00031
19.1
00000
+00044
4.0
2
6.0
21/05/06 14:59:24
48.0
3
5
AUS1
48 41.72N
010 05.93W
00370
19.5
00339
+00045
3.0
0
3.0
22/05/06 13:33:24
5.5
7
6
ABN2
49 06.13N
012 40.11W
00459
14.9
00428
+00036
2.0
0
2.0
22/05/06 19:30:20
44.0
5
7
MOVI
48 57.44N
013 28.86W
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
BRA1 Brasil 1
ERIC Ericsson Racing Team
MOVI movistar
POTC Pirates of the Caribbean
DTF: distance to finish, SMG: Speed made good, DTL: distance to leader,
DTLC: distance to leader change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll
Sacha Oswald, Press Officer in Portsmouth:
Tel: +447816 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
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Images
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Email: images@volvooceanrace.org
Port accreditation and sign up to the Volvo Ocean Race press information service is available online at https://accreditation.volvooceanrace.org .
The Volvo Ocean Race
- The Volvo Ocean Race is a round the world yacht race featuring nine offshore legs, over 31,250 nautical miles. The 2005-06 features an inshore race at each of the index stopover ports.
- Four teams from the last race measured the media value of their exposure. The results showed an average of US$50 million, which equates to a 200-300% return on their sponsorship investment.
- The Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02 achieved a cumulative audience of over 800 million viewers ranking it among the top international sporting events.
- Further information can be found at www.volvooceanrace.org .
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