The decision to hire American tactician John Kostecki has, not surprisingly, turned out to be good one for the Ericsson Racing team who claimed a morale-boosting win in the first in-port contest of the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday.
After a two-hour delay due to light winds, racing got under
way in Sanxenxo, northern Spain in a five-knot westerly breeze.
Ericsson (Sweden) got the best start, taking advantage of the clear wind at the pin end.
They rounded the first turning mark in the shortened Olympic-style triangle course four minutes ahead of second-placed Brasil 1.
Led by British skipper Neal McDonald, Ericsson extended its lead throughout the race and crossed the finish line 2 minutes 40 seconds ahead of second-placed Brasil 1 (Brazil) and more than four minutes ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean (USA) in third.
"John [Kostecki] did a great job calling tactics and advised us to position ourselves at the pin end," said Ericsson helmsman Tim Powell.
"We always favoured the left side of the course, so we stuck to our plan and it paid off. It's great to finally race against the other boats and to have a win this early on sets us up nicely for the first leg."
The light conditions proved a struggle for New Zealand skipper Mike Sanderson and his syndicate ABN Amro (Netherlands) whose boats are designed towards medium to heavy conditions.
Sanderson's ABN Amro 1 finished last while the syndicate's second team, ABN Amro 2, finished one place higher.
ABN Amro 1 had a nightmare start which saw them cross the line two minutes after the leaders.
The team had planned to set their code zero, a large headsail set from the bowsprit, but due to the large spectator fleet they had to change strategy, which forced them to tack back, losing valuable speed.
"We always knew that in a six-knot in-port race where I got the start wrong was going to be our worst nightmare," Sanderson said.
"We are still adamant we have got the right boat for the race, so hopefully we won't have too many more races when it is light."
Missing from the race was Grant Warington's Premier Challenge (Australia) who are still struggling with funding but are hoping to be ready for the first leg from Vigo to Cape Town which starts on Sunday.
Seven in-port races are now part of the round-the-world race, contributing 22 per cent of overall points.
The decision to hire American tactician John Kostecki has, not surprisingly, turned out to be good one for the Ericsson Racing team who claimed a morale-boosting win in the first in-port contest of the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday.
After a two-hour delay due to light winds, racing got under
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