Erricsson 4 Wins Leg 8 in Volvo Ocean Race

After a tight race, the Erricson 4 team managed to finish first when arriving at the Rotterdam Gate. During the North Sea race, positions swapped regularly, but the Galway to Marstrand route was finally finished by PUMA on the second and the Green Dragon team on the third.

The Volvo Ocean Race is an offshore sailing race, which takes place on four different continents, involving multi-national teams, trying to climb the ‘Mount Everest of sailing’, as the event’s website calls it.

“It was a very important result, a very close race. Green Dragon was sailing really well and they had an excellent leg. They went to the front and just stayed there. We wanted to have a good result. This is a nice step towards the main goal. I have to thank this wonderful group because it was a tough leg, a difficult race and even though it was hard,ba bb people were in a good mood on board. We're very close to winning the race, but we're not there yet,” said the Erricson 4 skipper, Torben Grael.

PUMA and Green Dragon finished close, with less than a minute separating the teams. All seven teams finished within one hour and 19 minutes. Erricson 4 is now waiting the next leg race on Sunday, from Marstrand to Stockholm, from a very strong position, as it now has the overall lead, followed by the PUMA and Telefonica Blue teams.

The pit-stop the teams are having in Marstrand is under a restricted regime, as all repairs have to be made by the crews, and no new sails, food or other material can be brought on board. The only changes the teams are allowed to make are the crew substitutions, and Telefonica Blue have previously announced Simon Fisher to replace Tom Addis.