Ericsson Racing Team confirms their "Media Guy"

The Media Crew Member is a ground-breaking innovation for the 2008-09 race. The role will be devoted to chronicling life on board a Volvo Open 70 and relaying all the collateral – video, text, audio and still images – to the race headquarters while at sea.

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"There are some great stories that need telling and it's my job as a media crew member to tell them," Salter said. "There is plenty of hardship on board to write about and capture on film and in photos.

"The Volvo Open 70 is a very physical, very wild boat. There is all manner of noise and violent motion on board and you get thrown around quite a bit. It's not an ideal egg-and-spoon environment. In fact, you would battle to keep water in a glass at the best of times.

"These are extreme boats for an extreme sport. They are very tough physically and mentally and telling the story of someone going through that, day in day out, makes compelling reading and viewing."

The two Ericsson crews have now returned to their training base in Lanzarote and are turning to the final preparation phase of their pre-race activities. They will spend the next six weeks at Puerto Calero Marina tuning and working on their two Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed Volvo Open 70s.

The delivery to the Canary Islands from Sweden turned into a valuable shakedown for the race when both crews faced a strong front in the North Sea. They also battled fog, strong tides and lighter winds in the passage, allowing them to test the boats across a wide spectrum of conditions.

"It was pretty good for us and we were in all types of conditions so we were able to push the boat for the first time," said Grael. "Weather-wise we had a bit of everything, we were lucky to get through before the front in the North Sea and after that the Bay of Biscay was good, despite the strong winds."

Anders Lewander, the Swedish skipper of Ericsson's Nordic crew, led his crew on a 6,000-mile passage. They delivered Ericsson 3 from Lanzarote to Sweden in late June to broaden their offshore experience.

"It's been a superb reality check both day and night with a good mix of conditions," said Lewander. "This is the first and last time we'll be able to do a trip in this way, and we are very fortunate to be able to fit this into the programme.

"It feels good to have qualified for the race and, while we have some work to do, I'm real happy with the boat's and crew's performance."