10 June 2006
Flying finish for first three: best result ever for Brazil
Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) has won leg eight of the Volvo Ocean Race from Portsmouth, UK, to Rotterdam, Holland, posting the best result so far for Brasil 1, the first Brazilian team ever to enter the Volvo Ocean Race.
On crossing the finish line, skipper Torben Grael said:
“We have had some good moments on this leg and some not so good moments, but the most important thing is that we were amongst the leaders for the whole leg.
“The crew work was excellent, the boat was very fast and everything went really well with the new sails we got in Portsmouth.
“I was really happy because we were competitive in all conditions. Normally we are not as fast as the ABN AMRO boats in the stronger wind, but ABN AMRO ONE did not seem so much faster in these conditions.
“We only knew we could win in the last moments of the race. The wind had increased and normally ABN AMRO ONE would over take in these conditions. We monitored their every move, but it wasn’t until we saw the finish line that we knew that we had won.”
The leg, which took the fleet around Britain and Ireland, has been a battle from start to finish between Torben Grael’s Brasil 1, Mike Sanderson’s ABN AMRO ONE and Neal McDonald’s Ericsson.
In the lightest conditions experienced in the Volvo Ocean Race so far, the top three teams have reshuffled their positions constantly, been in sight of each most of the time, and pressed as hard as humanly possible in the most trying conditions in their quest to claim the winner’s points for this leg.
As the three boats flew towards the finish at 15 knots, it was a fight to the bitter end, culminating in a sweet victory for Grael and his team of Brazilian sailors who crossed the finish line at 2318 GMT tonight in first place after seven days, six hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds.
ABN AMROONE which had been closing quickly as the wind freshened, finished three minutes later. It was a delighted Mike Sanderson who brought ABN AMRO ONE into the team’s home port of Rotterdam in second place in spite of the fact that, for the majority of the leg, the light conditions were completely unsuited to the fat bottomed boat they call ‘Black Betty’.
Third place went to Neal McDonald whose team had led for much of this leg. After finishing second on the leg across the Atlantic, McDonald’s team were to go one better, but had to settle for the final spot on the podium.
Brasil 1’s win tonight still leaves the team in third place overall, but the margin between the Brazilian team and Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) in second place has been narrowed to just 4.5 points, assuming Cayard finished in his current position of fourth. With an in-port race and the final leg yet to come, it is achievable for Brasil 1 to move up to second place overall.
Ericsson’s result tonight brings the team to within half a point of fourth place on the overall scoreboard, the spot currently occupied by ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse).
LEG EIGHT LEADERBOARD
Leg Standing
Yacht
Leg Points
Finish Time
Elapsed Time
Total Points Overall
Position Overall
1
BRASIL 1
7.0
09/06/06 23:18:42
007d 06h 48m 42s
59.0
3
2
ABN AMROONE
6.0
09/06/06 23:21:52
007d 06h 51m 52s
90.5
1
3
ERICSSON
5.0
09/06/06 23:47:02
007d 07h 17m 02s
50.0
5
LEG EIGHT POSITION REPORT 0000 GMT
Leg Standing
Yacht
Latitude
Longitude
Distance To Finish
Speed Made Good
24 Hour Run
24 Hour Speed
Distance To Leader
Projected Leg Points
Estimated Time of Arrival
Projected Race Points
Projected Overall Standings
4
POTC
54 07.04N
002 37.93E
00137
12.0
203
08.5
00000
4.0
10/06/06 12:36:56
63.5
2
5
AUS1
54 16.60N
002 29.77E
00148
11.3
207
08.6
00011
3.0
10/06/06 13:36:14
11.0
7
6
ABN2
54 27.31N
002 31.09E
00157
10.8
200
08.3
00020
2.0
10/06/06 14:26:57
50.5
4
ABN1 ABN AMRO ONE
ABN2 ABN AMRO TWO
BRA1 Brasil 1
ERIC Ericsson Racing Team
POTC Pirates of the Caribbean
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 Rotterdam
Tel: +31 618 092 201
Email: sacha.oswald@volvooceanrace.org mailto:sacha.oswald@volvooceanrace.org
Lizzie GreenPress Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org mailto:lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant in Rotterdam
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
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