He wasn’t despondent, just desperate to convince the critics this defeat would not be repeated at each stop. In time, he stressed, people would see the supreme speeds his Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed yacht could reach in the right conditions, but the doubts remained and the indictments of the ABN AMRO project were duly published.

You might wonder if his celebratory laughter on the pontoon this afternoon was directed at those of us lurking in the shadows of the media centre, feasting on humble-pie. “I didn’t listen to any critics,” Sanderson clarified. “I certainly wasn’t going to listen to anyone criticise the boat as long as it does what it’s supposed to do when it’s supposed to do it. We saw it in this leg that when the winds are strong our boat is very quick. It has done what we wanted quite nicely this leg!”

The absence of a rival boat on the horizon, even hours after the champagne had dried up, has added more than a modicum of credibility to his assertion in Sanxenxo that “we have the boat to win this race”. The ten and a half points on the giant scoreboard are acting as an “I told you so” to each of us walking by the waterfront this evening. But though he is smiling now, and the team are celebrating, you don’t need to smell the whiff of this tired crew to understand it was not an easy journey. Come to think of it the ulcers on Rob Greenhalgh’s lips and the cracks on Jan Dekker’s feet are merely supporting evidence, while the before and after pictures of these guys looks like an advert for a really good weight loss product.

“It was pretty tiring,” Mike added.

Much of the sweating will have begun back in Vigo on 12 November at the leg start. Like the In Port race in Sanxenxo a week earlier, the wind gods were enjoying their siesta when the afternoon’s racing begun. In the calm the big black boat drifted along as her narrower rivals sailed past, and the press hounds started to raise questions once again.

Then, for whatever reason, Huey and Aeolus stirred, and a 20 minute storm blasted ABN AMRO ONE out of their slumber. Brasil 1, who had been keeping Sanderson and crew in fifth place, was left powerless as the Kiwi skipper’s yacht flew past towards the leaders. Cue some embarrassed reporters.

“I think we showed what I mean when we went through to leeward of the three boats in front of us within six miles of the start,” Sanderson recalled. “I never doubted we would show what this boat and crew could do.”

The breeze then dropped and so did ABN’s speed, but Sanderson had thrown down the gauntlet: Give me big winds and I’ll give you big speeds.

Where will you find the big breeze? The open ocean. Away from the coved Rià de Vigo the tactical battles and real ocean racing began. Navigator Stan Honey made the bold choice to head further west on a course destined closer to Miami than South Africa. Here they tapped into strong winds and opened the tap on their speed potential. Honey reflected, “We knew if we could get to the right weather lanes then we would really start to move. We chose to go west and get the winds and we got the wind, and here we are.”

Their younger brothers on ABN AMRO TWO hinted at the potential speeds of their unique design later on that first night of offshore racing. The scheds rolled in and it emerged the kids had clocked up a 504 mile run in 24 hours, storming to the front of the fleet. After a few days order was restored and the grown ups regained the lead, instigating a few days of position changes with Brasil 1 and their next of kin.

By this point carnage had already begun behind them. movistar and Pirates both limped out of the leg on the first night with severe damage, while Sunergy and Friends sailed into port for stop-go repairs on a broken boom. It was always a possibility that this new class of boat would require some sensible judgement as to how far it can be pushed. Jan Dekker discussed that intriguing first night’s activities. “I was surprised that movistar had issues because they have done a lot of miles in similar conditions to what we had in this leg. As for Pirates they have not done much sailing so that wasn’t a great surprise. You have to realise that your first priority is to finish these legs; more so than previous races, with these boats, and they aren’t fragile, but they have got so much equipment you have to know when to back off.”

Ericsson joined the walking wounded when they lost their fractional reaching kite, but the black boat with the big bum swaggered on down the track. She had got her share, but it was a few days before the outside world knew. In an email to shore their tales of woe revealed Stan Honey had to repair the damage caused by an electrical fire, Tony Mutter had been washed into the steering wheel and pedestal when the boat broached following failure of the tiller arm on one rudder. Tony emerged battered and bruised, but the steering pedistal nearly didn’t pull through. Days of reparations later, and long after Tony had regained the spring in his step, the wheel was also patched up and working again. A lucky escape considering Tony is not a small lad.

Tony recalls, “Rob (Greehalgh) was helming and I was trimming when we broached. All of a sudden I’m flying straight into the steering wheel. It didn’t hurt a great deal, but I ripped my oilies and the wheel broke!”

They reached the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha first, picked up the three and a half points, and then crossed the Equator. Sanderson’s radio interview told the tales of Rob Greenhalgh’s initiation ceremony. On the dock at Cape Town Rob recalled the moment his crew mates descended upon him with a pair of scissors. “It’s obviously traditional for someone crossing for the first time to make an offering to King Neptune and that’s what we did. People from the north did the north side of my head and the people from the southern hemisphere did the south side. They went light on me but it could have been worse. Maybe it wouldn’t have been fun if we weren’t winning.”

With the Equator crossed and the Doldrums unusually generous with their winds, the hard part began. Below deck on a Volvo Open 70 is not where you would best enjoy your honeymoon. The tales came in from the fleet telling of the soaring heat, and the stench of Mark Christensen’s feet didn’t help relaxation for those onboard the leaders. Christensen accepts he probably owes his crewmates a beer, but there was no mention of his crusty feet. “I sailed this leg with my arm in a cast because it’s broken, so I couldn’t do any grinding etc. I had it quite easy! I probably owe them all a few drinks.”

The race continued. They took a southern course, and in the same way they paid a lot to the west in the opening days of the race, so they paid a lot to the south. Brasil 1 took a more easterly route, placing them geographically closer to Cape Town, but the fleet unanimously agreed the race at this point was a race to get under the South Atlantic high pressure system, and as Sanderson’s crew were furthest south they were the leaders. At the high pressure the boats would turn the corner and enjoy strong winds straight to Cape Town.

Stan Honey reflected on the leg-winning decisions. “We have the best boat, a great crew and a crew full of kids pushing in preparation and racing the whole time. It was a terrific trip and a fabulous race. We had the good fortune to have the speed to get the weather lanes we wanted. A western lane across the Atlantic and a very southern line beneath the high and we got them and they worked. There’s always concern that gambles won’t work, but that’s what is great about having a fast boat because you can spend a few miles to get the lane you want and once we got to the lane it worked.”

ABN AMRO ONE hit the land of westerlies to take them to Cape Town first, despite losing 120 miles of her 170 mile lead in light airs and being behind Brasil 1 for a while, and began the run for home. Hitting speeds of 30 knots in the big breeze Mike enjoyed being proved right about his boat. Soon he would be happier.

With Cape Town looming closer over the horizon Mike sent an email to shore. “We have just broken the record.” If Kouyoumdjian needed an endorsement of his yacht designs then the 546 miles travelled in 24 hours between 27 and 28 November went a long to doing just that. When the inboxes showed a later email from “Moose” journalists everywhere must have been fearing an “I told you so”, but Sanderson is a modest man. His boat’s speed is anything but modest, however, and the three metre shark the boat hit won’t be chasing any Volvo Open 70s for lunch in this lifetime.

“Hi, just had the exciting experience of hitting a shark doing 25 knots! is how Mike informed in the world of the latest developments.

“Heard the thud on the keel, didn't really slow the boat down, but you could feel it shaking the boat, had to get the sails down and back down off it, unfortunately for Mini Jaws ( about eight to ten feet long), the shark didn't make it, But BB (Black Betty) seems fine and is back up to full pace.”

Next up Table Mountain, a welcoming sight after 6,400 miles of racing through wide expanses of water. “It was a terrific sight,” Mike said. “It was incredibly exciting to get the 24 hour record, and to reach Fernando first, but it wasn’t a patch on winning the leg. Getting to glorious Cape Town first was most important and we have done that. This is a great win for us.”

Full pace on one of these boats is frightening. Full pace on Mike Sanderson’s yacht seems to strike even more terror. If it was still alive you could ask Mini Jaws about that.

In the meantime, and if you are in Cape Town, be warned a group of sailors have recently escaped their prison of the past 19 days. They are heading through the streets at the speed of a Volvo Open 70 and Stan Honey isn’t required to provide the directions to where they are going. It is of course, as Rob Greenhalgh explained, “the bar”.

Source: Volvo Ocean Race Media