Guts and determination were the order of the day for the Ericsson Racing Team, after a premature start in the third in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race. The team fought its way back from the rear of the pack and ended up fighting for a podium spot, before finishing fourth behind ABN Amro One, Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar.

The conditions were perfect at 14.00 local time for the start of the third in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race, with 10 knots of southerly breeze. The seven Volvo Open 70s built up their speed a few seconds before the start, Ericsson and ABN Amro Two crossing the line slightly in front of the rest of the pack. The bad surprise came a few seconds later for the Dutch boat, and almost a minute later for Ericsson; both boats were recalled by the race committee and had to head back across the starting line.

“Unfortunately, we heard the radio announcing our premature start one minute after it actually happened, which penalized us a lot,” commented tactician John Kostecki. As a result, Ericsson re-crossed the start line approximately 2.5 minutes behind the leaders.

The Brazilians got the best start and led the fleet on the first of four windward-leeward legs. They rounded the top mark ahead of ABN Amro One and movistar, with Ericsson taking up the rear.

From then on it was a game of catch up for the Ericsson Racing Team, who fought their way back into the race. Sailing simply and independently from the rest of the fleet, Ericsson gained ground on the leaders, passing three boats in the first five legs and reducing their deficit from 2 minutes 45 at the first windward mark to 55 seconds at the end of the third lap. At this stage, Ericsson was well back into the leading group, in fourth place, just behind Pirates and ahead of movistar.

“I didn’t have to say anything to the guys: they are all professionals and none of them lost their concentration after the start,” said Kostecki. “We just had to get on with it and that’s what we did. We fought our way back into the race thanks to good boat speed and excellent manoeuvres.”

As the forecasted sea breeze filled in through the afternoon, the battle became intense between Ericsson and movistar. “We had some great moments during today’s race, particularly whilst competing against the Spaniards,” commented Australian Tom Braidwood, “We caught up with them from a two minutes deficit, which was pretty neat, and even overtook them. But in the end they finished just ahead of us and deprived us of a position on the podium.”

Taking the premature start into account, Ericsson was the fastest boat around the track today. But line honours went to ABN Amro One, who sailed a beautiful regatta and continued their winning streak. Pirates of the Caribbean finished second, followed by movistar and Ericsson just 15 seconds behind the Spaniards after 25 nautical miles of exciting closely fought racing.

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