TEAM RUSSIA EMAIL: 'Happy last night with our performance'

Friday 19th December 2008 06:31 GMT

Team Russia - Andreas Hanakamp (Skipper)

Very sorry for the guys on Delta Lloyd, I hope that they will make it safe to Singapore. Once in the Malacca Strait, they should be alright and will have no disadvantage in the light downwind conditions. Still, the amount of serious damage to boats the race has seen so far is concerning and for sure a matter of discussion what modification the vo70 rule needs for the next race. Our design brief to the Humphreys design office was for a boat that will not break in the Southern Ocean or on the beat to China, because we simply cannot afford to rebuild the boat several times throughout the race. I hope we will get rewarded for the concept at some stage of the race.

We were very happy last night with our performance, gaining with every sched on the whole fleet. The boat seems to be quick in these upwind conditions and we can push the boat hard, not fearing any breakages (knock on wood again and again). It seems we are laying the mark and the fleet will have to tack, how close we can come and whether we can overtake any boats depends on the speed and the wind direction the fleet will experience after tacking. We will keep fighting for every mile until the finish line in Singpore. Ericsson 4 shows impressive speeds whenever they line up with other boats and Ericsson 3 is not far from that, we all could envy them a little bit.

Less than a week to Xmas and no Xmas feelings on board. It is too warm, to wet, the lack of lights in the streets, xmas songs and shopping orgies. Still I hope we make it in time to spend Xmas with our families in Singapore or at home.

Andreas