Ericsson Racing Yacht Christened
The Ericsson Racing Team’s Volvo Ocean 70 yacht,
was last night baptised by her godmother, HRH Crown Princess Victoria
of Sweden, at a spectacular christening ceremony in Gothenburg,
Sweden. Ericsson together with partners Sony and Semcon, hosted a
special event at the Gothenburg Opera for guests from all over the
world. The new VO 70 yacht is now officially named “Ericsson”,
representing a key milestone for the Ericsson campaign.
The Ericsson Racing Team led by skipper Neal McDonald celebrated the
christening of their boat last night, in the presence of
HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Carl-Henric Svanberg,
President and CEO of Ericsson, Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO of
Sony and Hans Johansson, CEO of Semcon.
The christening ceremony took place at 22.00 CET in the magnificent
surroundings of the Gothenburg Opera. Princess Victoria was invited
onto the stage by Carl-Henric Svanberg, to perform the official
christening of the Ericsson yacht. “We wish our yacht and all who
sail with her a safe and a swift journey”, said The Crown Princess.
The champagne bottle broke first time - a sign of good luck for the
yacht and her crew.
Silence followed and the guests stood transfixed, as the Ericsson
yacht was lifted into the air and swung out over the water. The
Ericsson Racing Team was lined up on the deck and the sky was lit up
with fireworks, as the crowds of supporters let out a resounding
cheer.
Skipper Neal McDonald commented, “This is a key milestone in our
campaign and we are looking forward to going forward from here. Now
that we have the full team in place, our energy will focus on
consolidating our skills as a team and making sure the boat is in top
shape for race start in November.”
Gunnar Krantz, skipper onboard Swedish entry SEB in the Volvo Ocean
Race 2001-02, was amongst the guests attending the christening.
“This is a great event - the christening of the boat is like a start
in the race. It lives with you for a long time and gives you extra
confidence that you can pull it off and do a great job.”
He continued: “The VOR is a fantastic event and a very strong
challenge. It takes a lot both from the sponsors, the project
managers, the crews and the technical side and it seems like the
Ericsson Racing Team has all the components in place. You can see
that they are on a hunt for something big, which gives me a lot of
confidence in this project.”
With only 78 days to go before the race begins, the Ericsson Racing
Team will now sail back to their training base in Vigo, Spain, where
they will train until the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on 5 November
2005. The race will take Ericsson to nine stopovers on her journey
around the world, finishing back in Gothenburg on June 17, 2006.
Ericsson, the world’s leading telecommunications supplier, is
supported by Sony and Semcon as partners in the race. For updates
and pictures on the Ericsson Racing Team’s participation in the Volvo
Ocean Race, please visit: www.ericssonracingteam.com
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet
communications through its continuous technology leadership.
Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson
is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the
world.
| This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2005 at 9:34 am and is filed under Main Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
