Farewell Stockholm
2009-06-25 by Martin Nersing
The Volvo Open 70 boats have left Sandhamn and are battling it out on Leg 10 of the 400 nautical mile stretch to St Petersburg. Puma, Ericsson 4 and Telefonica Blue had a strong start.
The starting gun for Leg 10 of the Volvo Ocean Race went off at 2 pm today just off Sandhamn. For Ericsson 3 with Swedish skipper Mange Olsson and his Nordic crew, the start did not go as planned and they left Sandhamn trailing in last place. Thousands of pleasure boats were out, their occupants enjoying the warm summer weather in the Stockholm archipelago to watch the start of Leg 10.
Ola Åstradsson, the Port Stopover Manager, was impressed with the conduct of the boat-going Stockholm crowd during Stockholm Stopover.
“I was really impressed by the exemplary behaviour of the Stockholmers and the respect they showed the police cordons, which were there to assure the safety of the competitors,” says Ola Åstradsson to Oceanracestockholm.se
The overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race could be announced after Leg 9 to Marstrand when Ericsson 4, with its Brazilian skipper Torben Grael, came in third behind Puma and Ericsson 3 to go top of the overall standings.
Team Russia is shadowing the Volvo Ocean Race boats to St Petersburg, but not as an official competitor. The fleet is expected to arrive in St Petersburg on Saturday morning.
For more information go to: http://www.volvooceanrace.org