Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race
You have to put Ericsson 4 as the best. They make the right decisions at the right time...
Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 15:15 GMT
By Riath Al-Samarrai
The race is winding down and will soon be a memory. After 37,000 miles of sailing and nine months of observations, the sailors have been polled on five topics:
1: Considering each team's circumstances - competitiveness of boat, financial clout, preparations and otherwise - who do you think has performed the best?
2: Have any innovations among the teams stood out for you?
3: Which do you think is the best boat?
4: Best memory?
5: Worst memory?
Bouwe Bekking, Telefonica Blue, skipper
Best performer: The Nordic team (Ericsson 3) has been really good. I think that has been the biggest surprise for everybody. They have done a nice job.
Best innovation: I think our mast has been an eye-opener and the deck lay-out. I think we will see a lot more teams going in that direction.
Best boat: It's hard to say. It would be nice to sail them all and see how they feel. But I would probably say Ericsson 3. They just seem to go well in all conditions. PUMA is a good boat. They always say they are not so quick in the light, but they are actually one of the quickest.
Best memory: Winning into Singapore. It was a good turnaround for our campaign.
Worst memory: Breaking the forestay in leg five. We were in the lead and even though Ericsson 3 made that good move there was still a long way to go. So hard on the guys.
Ken Read, PUMA, skipper
Best performer: You have to put Ericsson 4 as the best. They make the right decisions at the right time. All boats have positives and negatives, but we have done as well as anybody. You could also make a case for Delta Lloyd. They have gotten better and better in a boat that is older than the rest.
Best innovation: I would say the Telefonica mast. They are quite radical in concept: very low windage, no jumpers, fewer checkstays. A radical departure from what has been the norm in the Volvo fleet.
Best boat: I think I would take Ericsson 3.
Favourite moment: A tie between finishing this leg in Stockholm and rounding Cape Horn.
Worst moment: About 20 miles outside of Boston on leg six, sitting in zero wind knowing that people were on the dock waiting for us and the clock was ticking on people going home for the night.
Rob Salthouse, PUMA, crew
Best performer: I think Green Dragon have had a lot of fun and in a boat that is not that competitive have had some really good results. It shows the strength of that team.
Best innovation: I haven't seen so many innovations, just a lot of refinements, developments on what went before. If you took this fleet now, and put the same fin, keel and bulb package on them, I think it would all be pretty close. There are pros and cons to each of the different things. There are strengths and weaknesses to each of the sail inventories. The team that knows their inventory and crossovers tends to come away with the results and I think that's an area where E4 has done a fantastic job.
Best boat: I wouldn't mind taking ours again. If there were no new boats, I think there is a lot we would do ours, with regards to boards and such like, that we could make the biggest improvement. All round it has a bit of untapped potential. If you couldn't make any changes, I'd probably say Ericsson 3.
Best moment: Some of the close racing. And these boats are just spectacular, some great rides.
Worst moment: The conditions on the way to China.
Jonathan Swain, Telefonica Blue, watch leader.
Best performer: I would still say Ericsson 4. Everyone expected them to do well, but they are just a solid team. They deserved to win. They hardly ever made mistakes. If you look at all the teams, I would say I was impressed with the Nordics on Ericsson 3 as well.
Best innovation: We have had a very good mast, very effective.
Best boat: Ericsson 3 has looked very good. Ericsson 3 is not a copy of ABN AMRO but is a progression design-wise. I know when we did all the numbers at the Farr office, Bruce Farr had the VPPs (velocity prediction program) of ABN ONE and they showed up in all the testing for all the options they gave us and they were never far behind. They were on to a good thing in the last race and it carried over into this one. If I was to choose a boat this race, I would put our mast in Ericsson 3. I even tell the guys on Ericsson 4, and they are all my mates, that I would choose Ericsson 3.
Best memory: I would say our victory into Singapore was sweet. It was so close and coming in first by a few minutes was great.
Worst memory: The breakdowns.
Fernando Echavarri, Telefonica Black, skipper
Best performer: The Ericsson project has been really well done, especially Ericsson 4. They did a good preparation and execution. They had more time to prepare, but they still had to execute in the race and they did. PUMA have also done well, very well.
Best innovation: There are different ideas on all the boats. I think Farr has given us a fast boat in most of the conditions, but we lose a lot downwind when it is windy. The Ericsson boats are more constant in speed.
Best boat: I would choose Ericsson 4.
Best moment: The whole thing. It has been a great experience, all the moments, good and bad. It is a real experience.
Worst moment: Losing the opportunity to do the long leg because of the crack on leg four.
Torben Grael, Ericsson 4, skipper
Best performer: I think we sailed very well.
Best innovation: I don't think there was something out of the normal.
Best boat: It's hard to say having not sailed all the boats. Just from looking at them, I am very happy with my boat.
Best moment: Every win was exciting and the 24-hour record period in the first leg was very nice.
Worst moment: Sailing from Luzon to China.
Simon Fisher, Telefonica Blue, navigator
Best performer: Ericsson 3 have done a really nice job. They were a rookie boat but I think they surpassed expectations.
Best innovation: I think our rigs have been fantastic, which is a big step forward in design. So is our cockpit, which is not to everyone's taste but we have been very happy with it. I wouldn't be surprised to see both ideas in the future.
Best boat: I think Ericsson 3 is a solid all-round boat. I think that's the boat a lot of people would take if they could take any one; a bit less radical than Ericsson 4. Even speaking some of the E4 guys, it was pretty even in testing. Our boats are good, but they have an Achilles heel going downwind in the breeze.
Best memory: Winning legs and the in-port series.
Worst memory: Hitting the rocks.
Ian Walker, Green Dragon, skipper
Best performer: I think Green Dragon is up there. Ericsson 4 has done very well, justifying their position as favourites. But I am proud of what we have achieved given what we have been dealing with in terms of funding and the competitiveness of our boat.
Best innovation: I think Blue did a good job with their rigs. At the start we probably all thought they would be vulnerable, but it hasn't been. Clearly it is less windage and that gives them an advantage upwind and they have still been able to fly their Code Zero.
Best boat: It depends on the course. Given the course we have had, I would say Telefonica Blue. Given a more all round, normal course you would probably take one of the Ericsson boats.
Best memory: Arriving into Galway. The reception was incredible and we got a podium. We were blown away by it.
Worst memory: There are probably two. One was traipsing along in last coming up to Boston. The other was the battle to get to China.
Dave Endean, Ericsson 4, crew and boat captain
Best performer: Telefonica Blue have done very well given the bad luck and gear failure. Overall, I would say probably PUMA. Very consistent.
Best innovation: The layout of the Telefonica boats is different and it looks as if it would a nice boat to sail with the cockpit lay-out. Their low windage programme has gone well. We questioned it in Alicante but it has worked out well.
Best boat: Ericsson 4.
Best memory: Breaking the 24-hour record was good. And the leg from Ireland to Marstrand was one of our proudest moments. We sailed hard and got there first.
Worst memory: Getting passed by three boats in the Malacca Straits on leg three.
Richard Mason, Ericsson 3, watch leader
Best performer: Everyone has stepped up to the plate. But if you look at where Ericsson has come from, what with the last race, this has been a phenomenal turnaround for a repeat sponsor.
Best innovation: Telefonica's rigs. A brave step in the right direction.
Best boat: Ericsson 4. The only fourth generation boat out there. We know it is faster at times.
Best memory: Standing in the dock watching Ericsson 3 come into Rio in first. I wasn't on the boat for that leg, but for us as a team it was a great moment.
Worst memory: Nearly sinking on leg four.
Brad Jackson, Ericsson 4 watch leader
Best performer: We have done okay. PUMA had a good build up and were expected to do well. I think the teams got out what they put into it.
Best innovation: A lot of it is compromise. With Telefonica's rig, it looks good on the dock and has done well. But we are using sails that they are not. In general it has worked out pretty well for them.
Best boat: Ericsson 4. I know what both E4 and E3 are like and I'd take Ericsson 4.
Best memory: Getting the 24-hour record.
Worst memory: Dropping Tony Mutter off wasn't very fun. And it wasn't nice losing places on the way to Singapore.
Wouter Verbraak, Delta Lloyd, navigator
Best performer: I think probably PUMA. They had no real race history as a sponsor and started from scratch. As a team, they were very consistent and impressive.
Best innovation: The Telefonica rig.
Best boat: That's hard. The Ericsson boats looked good and I really liked Ericsson 3. Telefonica Blue had some potential that I do not think we saw.
Best memory: The leg from Boston to Galway. We sailed so well to get to the front of the fleet.
Worst memory: The end of the leg from Boston to Galway when we lost a lot of places when we had been going so well.
Thomas Johansson, Ericsson 3, crew
Best performer: PUMA has done well and kept getting better. And Delta Lloyd didn't have much money and time and did well.
Best innovation: I have liked the Telefonica rigs. At the beginning a lot of people thought they will break them, that they wouldn't be able to carry their masthead sails. It has worked very well. Their sail plan with that mast is well designed.
Best boat: I would choose Ericsson 4. This race has been different to what was expected so if you had more downwind sailing, reaching, wider angles, then E4 is the best boat.
Best memory: The whole story of nearly sinking the boat and then coming back to win leg five. I will always remember how good this team has been at fighting the setbacks.
Worst memory: Hitting the whale on the leg from Boston to Galway. We knew that leg would be good for us, but it went wrong and we came last. We might have got onto the overall podium if that hadn't happened.