Volvo Ocean Race - First Leg Finished “THIS RACE WILL GO TO THE WIRE”

Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael was in no mood for brash
statements after winning the first leg on ysterday morning. “Is this race over?”
he asked. “No chance whatsoever. It is impossible to say who will win at this
stage.” It flies in the face of the stat which shows that the winner of the
first leg in the last five races has gone on to win overall. “It was such a
close race,” he added. “Our speeds between the boats are so close. We had visual
contact with PUMA for maybe 70% of the race, maybe 80% - this race will go to
the wire.”

It could be argued that Ericsson 4 had to be tougher than anyone else in the 21
days, 17 hours and 54 minutes they took to sail from Alicante to Cape Town. Just
six days in Tony Mutter had to be evacuated from the boat at Cape Verde, which
saw the team concede their early lead and fall 50 miles off the pace. However,
by day eight they were back in third position, 56 miles behind PUMA, and
rounding the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha they took the points for
second.

Thereafter the fleet raced south with Ericsson 4 neck-and-neck with PUMA before
turning east and smashing the world record for distance covered in 24 hours.
Grael said: “A lot of the reason for the record is due to our training base in
Lanzarote. We sailed in conditions close to that for one year. That was
important for our performance in those conditions. It wasn’t too windy, it was
about 30 knots, quite steady, and good wave conditions, (just like for the
record).”

PUMA skipper Ken Read, regarding his second place finish, “The best team won,
but we have more in the locker room. This yacht has a few more gears. Ericsson
raced like a team that has had two years' preparation, and absolute credit to
them, they did a superb job. But a year and half ago there was no such thing as
PUMA Ocean Racing - our learning curve was so steep in this leg - and soon we
will feel as comfortable pushing hard as they do, and then we’ll reach their
speeds. We have a lot to build on and a lot to learn.”

The length of Leg One is 6500nm; Current standings (as of Nov. 3, 1:00am GMT):
1. Ericsson 4, Torben Grael, Finished Nov. 2, 05:54:00 GMT
2. Puma, Ken Read, Finished Nov. 2, 17:44:50 GMT
3. Ericsson 3, Anders Lewander, 36 nm Distance to Finish
4. Green Dragon, Ian Walker, 40 nm DTF
5. Telefonica Blue, Bouwe Bekking, 123 nm DTF
6. Team Russia, Andreas Hanakamp, 176 nm DTF
7. Delta Lloyd, Ger O'Rourke, 254 nm DTF
8. Telefonica Black, Fernando Echavarri, 353 nm DTF
Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org

* The 4,450nm Leg 2 from Cape Town to Cochin, India begins November 15th.

* Hosted by world renowned sailor Gary Jobson, there are 39 half-hour weekly
episodes that chronicle the race to be aired on public television stations
nationwide. -- Details: http://www.vortv.org/Home.html