Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race
We got ourselves in a few tricky situations and the boat really pulled us out of a few tough ones...
Sunday 26 April 2009 23:15 GMT
By Riath Al-Samarrai
Their boat speed and crew skill has never been in question, but today, as Ericsson 4 claimed leg six in the most dramatic of finishes, Torben Grael's team proved they also have resolve in abundance.
It had been three legs since they last claimed offshore line honours, dating back to November 30 when they led the fleet into Cochin at the end of the second stage.
And for the majority of this leg, they hardly looked like breaking the run. As recently as April 20 - some nine days after leaving Rio de Janeiro - they were fourth, occasionally as much as 112 miles behind long-time leader Telefonica Blue.
But these are competitive, determined men with a fast boat and when Blue made a strategic mistake they pounced. April 23 was the day an opportunity presented itself, Blue entering stealth play and then immediately gybing.
For three days until that point Blue had been haemorrhaging miles, caught in a high pressure system, and Ericsson 4 had risen to second, just six miles behind.
Grael played his stealth card just three hours after Blue did and, having gybed further up the track, they were rewarded with a 31-mile lead over Ericsson 3 when they reappeared 12 hours later. Blue's move had left them in fourth place, 55 miles adrift.
Thereafter, the fleet traded tacks and gybes and Ericsson 4 only briefly lost control when their sister ship took first for one sched on April 25.
But to say they had it easy at the end would be grossly inaccurate, the first three boats being separated by a shade less than 18 minutes at the finish.
"That was hard, hard racing," said Grael. "It feels fantastic. I think we had a very good leg. We were always very close to the other boats, even Delta Lloyd sailed a fantastic leg.
"I think it was very important - a key position - when we gybed a few days ago. After that, there weren't many transitions there. We just managed to keep the front, which was not easy. Even here at the end, when it looked like it was alright, winds were very light with the sea breeze fighting the land breeze. So it was a very hard job."
Navigator Jules Salter was left exhausted after 15 days at sea.
"It was very hard work, probably the hardest, but we had a lot of luck to get this win," he said. "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."
The ability to "hang in there" was vital, according to watch captain Brad Jackson.
"To be honest we didn't have a great leg early on," he said. "We got ourselves in a few tricky situations and the boat really pulled us out of a few tough ones. We fought our way back to second at the scoring gate and we didn't really give ourselves much chance for the rest of the leg after that.
"Obviously Telefonica were a bit unlucky with the way the weather panned out but that's what happens. It has happened to us a few times in the race.
"We were running them down pretty quite fast and they tried to do something. We just hung in there and hung in there and didn't drop many miles. When we could do something we put the foot down. We never gave up and it paid off."
The result underlines their formidable challenge for overall victory. They are now 13 points clear of Blue, who take second place from PUMA, with just four legs, three in-port races and one scoring gate to go.
Grael is feeling happy. "It's one more step towards our objective," he said. With that he smiled and headed off for some champagne. It was hard earned.
Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race