Ericsson Racing Team present latest yacht

Taking advantage of the 3GSM World Congress that is currently taking place in Barcelona, the Swedish telecom giant presented yesterday (Wednesday) the brand new boat of its Volvo Ocean Race team, the Ericsson 3.

In fact, PR representatives from Ericsson, repeatedly mentioned the race as an excellent vehicle to showcase their products. Valencia Sailing being a website mainly geared towards the America's Cup, the obvious question we had was, once the decision to sponsor a sailing team was taken, why did the telecom group chose the VOR instead of the America's Cup? The answer couldn't be clearer. According to Ericsson the global impact of the VOR is much greater than that of the America's Cup. Ericsson has customers in 140 countries and there is no better sailing event than the VOR to reach them, especially in the emerging and growth markets. This also the reason Ericsson is very happy with the new route of the race. It reaches the two most important telecom markets in the world, India and China. The company uses its oldest boat, Ericsson 1, for corporate hospitality around the world and according to its PR people the response from customers has been "astonishing", particularly in India. During the race, Ericsson will use all its marketing weaponry at the stopovers. For the Swedes the stopovers mean business.

I suppose there shouldn't be any doubts that marketing forces are driving the Volvo Ocean Race but this is a factor inherent in all professional sports events.

Ericsson has an obvious advantage over the rest of the teams. Their first new boat has been sailing for quite a few weeks now, the second one is currently under built and they a winter training facility in Puerto Calero, in the Spanish island of Lanzarote. They have approximately 40 people there, very efficient and comfortable facilities and, of course, ideal weather conditions.

Nevertheless, Torben Grael, the team's skipper, insists it is too early to speculate about the strengths and weaknesses of each team. He pointed out there was scant information on the other competitors and his only goal was to concentrate on getting the best out of his team. As for the boat, Ericsson 3, he said he wouldn't define it as revolutionary but rather as an evolution of the ABN AMRO winning yacht.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take all the pictures and videos I wanted. We were supposed to switch from aboard Ericsson 3 to a tender in order to follow the boat but the team's Brazilian press officer didn't seem to understand the needs of sailing journalists and as a result I can only offer a meager selection. Having a limited choice, I preferred shooting video rather than taking pictures.

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Video copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Exhibition sail of Ericsson 3, latest boat of the Ericsson Racing Team. Barcelona, 13 February 2008. Video copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing