The young guns on ABN AMRO TWO have conclusively proven their ability offshore, but their inshore performances have been rather less convincing. Their fifth in Sanxenxo rather set the tone for their subsequent inshore results, with only a third in Cape Town, breaking their run of fifths.

Now, having dropped from second overall to third, and with only 1.5 points separating second from fourth, the In Port race on Saturday April 29 becomes especially critical. Factor in the recently stated contention from John Kostecki that even an In Port victory from the wounded lions of the Ericsson Racing Team would go some way to them saving face short term, and you can bet that this upcoming round the cans race promises fireworks.

ABN AMRO TWO have just been completing their Leg 5 de-brief, with the ‘kids’ having a hard look back at this last leg, and at what the immediate future holds.

Their inshore tactician is 23 year old American Andrew Lewis, a highly accomplished Olympic Laser dinghy sailor who shone through the worldwide crew selection process, despite never having sailed on a big boat for more than one day at a time.

Lewis is a steely eyed, open and amicable ex-High School sailor who reflects he is probably what some might consider typical of a certain type of American. A vocal livewire, he says he is always encouraging, always motivating and always keen to realise the silver lining to every cloud.

Dealing with their Leg 5 result these past 48 hours has been a new challenge, and Lewis has been playing his part, “It’s just part of the race for us.” He says of their sixth, “The good thing we are doing now is committing to what we decide to do and if we decide to go east, we go there. We are making a game plan, we don’t hesitate.”

He concurs that their sixth was a result which they had to be prepared to accept might happen at some stage, “I think that you are going to have your up and down races and it is important how we handle this one. We are having a de-brief and will just have to sit down and make sure that we are all looking forward and not backwards.

“We were happy with the way we sailed the boat this time. SiFi has told us that the percentages on our polars (reflecting how close to the computed target speeds on each point of sail in different wind strengths they sailed), our overall speed, was much higher on this leg than on any other leg, just keeping the boat always moving quick, always the correct sail choice up.

“We were down to six miles (behind Ericsson) coming in and we were still working at it at the same intensity. We were still moving the stack (using the weight of the unused sails and equipment to help optimise the trim of the boat) and even if we didn’t get them in the end we were still going for it. That was something we learnt from Brazil that right to the last few miles things change.

“I think for a lot of the guys (on our boat) this is a real new type of racing; not too many of the guys have done this intensity of sailing. It’s about how to handle pressure. It’s still a real new thing for them finishing and handling the press and things like that.

“Overall, it’s funny because I am making the tactical decisions, but I think when it comes to morale I’m a giver, I’m probably over the top and not just because I’m an American. I think it’s very important trying to keep everyone’s head high. You are always wanting to be always encouraging, ‘come on this has to be the best tack’ and always reminding them of the ‘good jobs’. People can tend to forget that Simeon (Tienpont, the bowman) has been up busting his ass up the front of the boat and comes back and no-one really acknowledges it.”

The loss of the injured Nick Bice has been a difficult one for the youngsters, he admits: “I make the decisions, ‘OK we tack’ or ‘Can we sail this angle on a mark?’ and Bicey give us the answer. And he’ll make it happen, or make the sail choice call. He kind of runs the boat. We talk about a trimming triangle, the three person triangle that is so important for the communication with the group.”

Lewis grew up in Hawaii, sailing, surfing and windsurfing as much as he could. Living just five minutes from the famous Diamond Head breaks, the professionalism of multiple windsurfing world cup champions Robby Naish - a local hero - and Bjorn Dunkerbeck, apparent even on his local beaches, was an early inspiration.

It was another local hero, top Laser sailor John Myrdal, who represented the USA at the Sydney Olympics, who was his mentor and got him started in the Laser dinghy.

Lewis represented the USA at the Youth World Championships in the Laser in Kuopio, Finland in 1999 and lead the class until the final stages, winning all the windy races, but, he admits, lying second he ‘choked’ on the last day and finished fourth. Since then he has a string of top drawer international regatta results to his name. He was top US Laser sailor for two years going in to the US trials last time, finishing third behind Mark Mendelblatt and Myrdal.

Lewis’s main big boat experience was previously confined to some sailing with Philippe Kahn’s Team Pegasus, mainly two boat testing off Hawaii, in Farr 40, the Transpac 52, and Melges 24, but it impressed North Sails Hawaii’s Fuzz Foster. It was he who suggested Lewis join the trials for a place on ABN AMRO TWO. In turn - according to Lewis - Foster made a recommendation to ABN AMRO ONE skipper Mike Sanderson to look out for the youngster as a talent, which did his chances no harm.

So there will be no shortage of pressure, again, on Andrew Lewis’s shoulders as the inshore starts, but he insists he will not be fazed by the prospect of having to nail skippers like Cayard and Kostecki when there is so much at stake, “You just have to step up and do it, and be confident. You don’t want to be left as the marshmallow on the line. We know we can beat these guys and put the pressure on them just as much. We can give them a full-on battle. I just have to tell the guys what I want clearly. ”

But he admits their weaknesses inshore are still communication issues and sometimes his quick tactical calls to French skipper and helm Sebastien Josse. Josse comes from the slightly rarefied world of Figaro and Open 60 solo sailing and has limited big fleet championship sailing experience on crewed boats - plus the skipper really only brought his English up to speed eight months or so ago.

“For me the communication with the whole group and with Seb has been a huge challenge, a big learning curve. The problem is I think of what I want, but by the time it comes out my mouth and explain how its going to happen then things can have moved on.”

“But it will come. We pair up with Pirates and Brasil and stuff like that, and we’ll go out and do 20 starts and then one windward-leeward to keep us sharp. And we’ll do that again here I’m sure.”

Lewis has nothing but praise for the skipper of the race leader ABN AMRO ONE:

“I have been so impressed by the way Mike Sanderson has run his campaign, how much of a leader he has been. I really looked up to Cayard, but I think that Moose is just at the next level of those guys. He always wants to be one step ahead. He is a mind games kind of guy, but not in an arrogant kind of way. He is really good with us, just telling us how important it is to look good and be professional.”

Regardless of the final outcome when they cross the Gothenburg finish line in June, the ABN AMRO TWO crew have already earned the respect of their rivals - and of Volvo race fans world-wide. But this is the make or break stage of the race which may yet shape the youngsters’ destiny.

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