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Ericsson Racing Team (STO:ERIC) CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Nov. 14, 2008) - Ericsson Racing Team media crewman Guy Salter (Titchfield, England) last night was presented the inaugural Inmarsat Media Prize at the awards ceremony for Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Salter, 36, is media crewman aboard Ericsson 4, the overall leader of the circumnavigation race. Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazil's Torben Grael, also was feted at the ceremony for its Leg 1 victory.
Ericsson 4 not only won the leg in 21 days and 17 hours, but it also set a world speed record for a monohull sailing vessel by covering 602 nautical miles in 24 hours (pending ratification).
"It was really a team effort, from the very beginning, starting with an excellent boat," said Grael. "I really have to thank the crew for pushing so hard, especially in the absence of Tony (Mutter)."
The media crewman is a new position for the Volvo Ocean Race. The media crewmembers aren't allowed to assist the 10 crewmembers in sailing the boat. Instead, they're onboard to capture life's daily occurrences and transmit the collateral - video, audio, still pictures and text updates - back to shore via Inmarsat satellite communications.
"The media man is very positive to help increase the popularity of our sport," said Salter, who competed in the 2001-'02 Volvo race as a crewmember. "I'm honored to get the first one because it shows that I'm doing something right. The overall quality of the media crewmembers is very high, it's tough competition. It's good to have competition, but we all have a long way to improve."
Salter said there wasn't one moment that made the leg memorable, but the whole leg itself.
"Losing Tony, the good, close racing, the record . it was all exciting," Salter said. "They're all equal memories."
Ericsson 4's opening leg to the circumnavigation race was highly eventful. Trimmer and helmsman Mutter had to be transferred off the yacht as it passed the Cape Verde Islands due to an infected knee, leaving the already short-handed crew a man down.
They were locked in a close, boat-for-boat tussle with Puma for about two-thirds of the leg, until Ericsson 4 set off on its record run about four days from the finish.
The record was also noted during last night's awards dinner. The entire crew, dressed in dark blue suits with blue and orange stripped ties, accepted a trophy from Simon Fisher for covering 602 miles in 24 hours. Fisher, the navigator of Telefónica Blue, also navigated ABN Amro Two when it set the previous 24-hour record of 563 miles during the 2005-'06 Volvo Race.
"It is a shame to see our old record go but at the same time these things are made to be broken, and those boys are certainly doing it with style," Fisher said on Oct. 29 when Ericsson 4 broke the record.
Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race to Cochin, India, is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
ENDS
New footage of Ericsson Racing Team and interviews with crew member are now available at www.r2prod.net/ERT
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