Ericsson 4 had the most emphatic champagne celebration, but to say Ken Read was pleased with PUMA’s ninth leg would be a huge understatement. For while Ericsson 4’s third place was enough to give them the spoils of the Volvo Ocean Race war, PUMA claimed a battle that held no small amount of significance.
It has been thoroughly documented that Read’s team, the race’s bridesmaid’s by his own earlier admissions, have been the nearly men of this event. They had taken top three spots at 11 of 16 offshore scoring opportunities coming into this leg and only claimed their first win of any sort in the Galway in-port race.