ABN Two Arrives in Rio as Heros
At 07.36 GMT today after 20 days, 06 hours, 06 minutes and 10 seconds ABN AMRO TWO, the ‘young guns’ in the Volvo Ocean Race staged a staggering come back to take third place on this, the fourth leg of the race. Having taken a gamble early on - which did not pay off and put the boat at the back of the fleet - the crew sailed hard, determined to make up the lost miles.
As ‘the kids’ tussled with Pirates of the Caribbean and Brasil 1 off the coast of Rio during the early hours of this morning it was always going to be close as the boats tried to navigate light and patchy wind. For ABN AMRO TWO there was an added incentive for victory over their Brazilian rivals, Lucas Brun the only Brazilian sailor onboard the ABN AMRO boat was hoping to be the first Brazilian to sail into his home country. As they crossed the finish line in third place, the boat once again proved that they are truly a force to be reckoned with in this race and they will continue to exert pressure on their rivals.
Lucas Brun commented on his arrival: “It was always going to be a dream come true for me to sail into my home town – of any of the legs, to sail on this one was always going to be an amazing experience. The leg has been hard work but when you arrive like this, you forget all the bad bits and just remember the best parts. This is the highlight of my career without a doubt. I can’t believe that we arrived in third place and that I was the first Brazilian back on home soil in this race - it is a great feeling and I am very proud.”
Simon Fisher, navigator of ABN AMRO TWO commented from the dock: “I couldn’t ask for anything more right now, we were struggling in sixth place with no wind and we were 200 miles behind and now we are here in third place. We were four miles behind at the last sked but managed to sneak in under them [Brazil 1] at the end. I felt pretty accountable for being so far behind but you have to take the rough with the smooth and we got there in the end so it is good. We’re going to have to lift our game to stay on the podium. When we’re reaching we feel pretty comfortable, but upwind we struggle. But we all have a laugh together - we keep the spirit high and the humour at base level, which is all good. I’m sure we have a lot more fun than a lot of the other boats. There is plenty of joking going on. We take the sailing very seriously but we also do this because we love it. It’s important not to lose sight of that.
All in all I am very happy, it was a result of teamwork - a massive team effort – it was hard fought and we are stoked.”
Current Leaderboard: (based on current positions)
1st: ABN AMRO ONE: 49 points
2nd: ABN AMRO TWO: 35 points
3rd: Pirates of the Caribbean: 30.5 points
4th: Movistar: 28 points
5th: Brazil 1: 26.5 points
6th: Ericcson: 21 points
| This entry was posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 at 5:08 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. |
