Sailing into second place in the fifth lap of the Volvo Ocean Race was the movistar, a Spanish yacht. Public relations manager Javier Sobrino had only good things to say about the finish. “Second place is fantastic for us. We broke our boat in every leg so far, but this time we had no problems. So it?s great for us.” he said.
Jonathon Swain, the crew?s driver/trimmer, had a more understated opinion. “It?s virtually impossible for us to win, we?ve all come to that. When you set out to race, obviously you want to win,” Swain said. He also added that the ABN had a different designer than the other boats, which may have contributed to it?s lead.
The movistar entered the Bay at 5 a.m. and finished in the harbor around 7 or 8 p.m., when the sun was setting. Although that seems long, Swain said it would take an average sailboat a lot longer to travel up the Bay. “We had the wind for about half the way, and then it just shut down,” he said. “Plus we had almost 2 knots of current against us.”
“The boats received a lot of bad press because they were breaking down in the beginning,” Swain said. Which is true, since in the fourth leg of the race from Wellington, New Zealand, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the movistar was sinking. “In the fourth leg, we had very big problems,” Sobrino said. “We were sinking for a couple of hours, and we finished in last place in that leg. So we are really, really happy to come in second in leg five.”
“The crew is good, a lot better since the last leg,” Swain said. “But the previous leg to that, we were first, and we?re the only boat that?s beaten ABN.” The ABN AMRO One has a 22-point lead and sailed into the Inner Harbor in first placeMonday.
Swain remained positive. “As far as the rest of the race is concerned, we?re focusing on maintaining second place.”
