18 April 2006 - the Ericsson Racing Team finished leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race at 09:21 local time (EDT) today, after 15 days, 21 hours, 23 minutes and 24 seconds of intense ocean racing. After a close battle with Brasil 1, Ericsson crossed the finish line in fifth place, 12 minutes behind the Brazilians and just over 2 hours behind third placed Pirates of the Caribbean.

“We are all very disappointed,” commented Ericsson Racing Team skipper John Kostecki (USA). “We have had a close battle with Brasil 1. We had a 25 mile lead over them yesterday and then we hit a big storm with 52 knots of wind in the afternoon. We ripped our jib and had to drop our mainsail. It took a long time to recover the boat and the Brazilians got passed us just before we entered the bay.”

The 5,000 mile leg from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Baltimore, USA, threw every condition possible at the Volvo Ocean Race competitors. They departed Brazil on 2 April in light winds and the first week saw some intense racing between all the competitors, in particular Ericsson, Pirates of the Caribbean and Brasil 1.

Ericsson picked up two points at the scoring gate which they rounded in fourth place behind the Pirates. The teams then tackled the light airs and squalls of the doldrums before enjoying several days of fantastic trade wind sailing. Brasil 1 and Ericsson swapped positions a couple of times, with the Swedish team sneaking ahead as they negotiated the transition from the trade winds to the next frontal system. “We were getting fairly close to the Pirates at this point,” said Tim Powell (GBR), “and then we blew a spinnaker out at a fairly critical stage of the leg.”

A tense battle then ensued between Brasil 1 and Ericsson and by Monday afternoon with less than 200 miles to go to the finish, Ericsson had built a comfortable lead over the Brazilians, which vanished as the team was hit by a sudden squall. “We are exhausted,” said navigator Steve Hayles (GBR), having barely slept for 48 hours. “The last night was really hard, and we all gave it everything we could. It is very tough to finish behind Brasil 1, when yesterday, at some stage, we were 25 miles ahead of them.”

Ericsson got to within half a mile of Brasil 1 in the night as they battled up the Chesapeake Bay, but it wasn’t enough to beat them. The team finished in fifth place, bringing its total score to 28.5 points, 5.5 points behind Brasil 1 in the overall rankings.

“We sailed very hard all through the race,” said Neal McDonald (GBR). “It wasn’t a technically hard leg, there were no icebergs or gales, but it was very physical, long and intense. So it makes the end result very sad.”

Despite this result, there are clear signs of improvement as Steve Hayles explains: “We have to remember that our performance in this leg is much more positive than our fifth place seems to indicate. The performance of the boat was solid, and there are definitely good signs of improvement. Unfortunately, we finished fifth and this doesn’t look good on the paper, but we have never been so close to a podium position in an offshore leg since the start. Our improvement is due to the time spent sailing together, and learning about the boat, as well as to the restructuring of the team.”

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