Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race
We are very happy and there is a very different mood today than we had at the beginning of the week...
Saturday 10 January, 2009 10:30 GMT
With little chance to practice due to time spent in the protest room, Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael was concerned his crew might prove 'rusty' when they got onto the race track but they were runners up to PUMA in the first race then posted a superb win in the second, clearing the finish line less than a minute ahead of Telefonica Black.
"It was a hard week for us and we were a bit rusty," said Grael.
"We did not have much time to practice and have not practiced in-port racing since Alicante so for us to get this result was very good for the team. We are very happy and there is a very different mood today than we had at the beginning of the week."
Tactician Stu Bannatyne described the racing as frantic with shifty conditions making it impossible to eliminate mistakes.
"It was head down all the time doing manoeuvres with no chance to look up and see what was going on. It was freestyle and we were making it up as we went along but we have a very good crew and people grabbed the right rope at the right time.
"The breeze was up and down so much that you had to be on your toes and be prepared for anything. There was plenty of fever going on and lots of yelling and screaming but everything happened when it should have happened and it was good."
The win comes after the overall race leader was fourth place into Singapore, so the return to the podium was welcomed.
Second overall was PUMA who ran away with victory in the first race by more than a minute but struggled with gear problems in the next. Winning would have been a nice way to go out of the Volvo Ocean Race, said tactician Chris Nicholson who returns home to Sydney to have surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament and faces up to six months recuperation.
"At the top mark in the second race, we had an engine stall mid-tack which hurt (in getting the canting keel across). In the last leg we saw more breeze on the left hand side of the course so we made the commitment and backed it. There was a lot of pressure on me to pull out of that manoeuvre than to go with it but I stood my ground and it worked well.
"Coming first would have been a good way to go out but coming second isn't bad. We have taken a lot of good things out of today."
Pedro Campos, helmsman on Telefonica Black, which incurred two penalties in two races, was also happy with the results.
"It was hard work because the competitors are very good and the boats are very similar. Picking the shifts was key today but there was also a bit of luck involved.
"In the last leg, the Blue boat should have won clearly but they fell into a hole of no wind. We were two or three boats behind them but we caught them. Had we been two minutes further behind it all would have been different. We did very well."
But there was disappointment on Green Dragon which rounded the windward mark in third place in the second race but finished in fifth following a fourth in the first.
"The last run was very frustrating," said tactician/navigator Ian Moore.
"The guys did a good job and our manoeuvres were good. We pulled off a fourth mid fleet in the first race then in the second we were third at the windward mark but as we came round, there was no wind and we did not do a fantastic set.
"The PUMA guys came round behind us did a fantastic set. Telefonica Black set behind us and got the pressure. We did not get the pressure and went from third to fifth. It was frustrating because we sailed better than the result showed."
The overall results for the day mean Ericsson 4 extends its overall lead, while PUMA narrow the gap to second-placed Telefonica Blue.
Overall standings for the UBS Challenge for the Singapore In-Port Race:
1st - Ericsson 42nd - PUMA3rd - Telefonica Blue4th - Telefonica Black5th - Green Dragon6th - Ericsson 37th - Delta Lloyd
First Race
1st - PUMA2nd - Ericsson 43rd - Telefonica Blue4th - Green Dragon5th - Ericsson 36th - Telefonica Black7th - Delta Lloyd
Second Race
1st - Ericsson 42nd - Telefonica Black3rd - Telefonica Blue4th - PUMA5th - Green Dragon6th - Ericsson 37th - Delta Lloyd
(Provisional Results)