Team Russia bloodied but unbowed

Wednesday 3 December 2008, 16:30 GMT

by Riath Al-Samarrai

Thousands of fans were screaming, the sailors were cheering and a state bordering on delirium swept the dock in Cochin. You would never have guessed that Team Russia were a distant last in leg two.

In fact, they were so far behind their nearest rival, Andreas Hanakamp's crew were the only boat still on the track and racing over the last 48 hours. And all because a tactical gamble they hoped would trigger them from last to the podium failed spectacularly.

But on the night it was very hard to tell. "I am so happy," Oleg Zherebtsov bleated through the rails as they pulled in. "I cannot wait to see this wonderful place."

"That's one of the craziest receptions I've ever known," added Mike Joubert shortly after running the gauntlet of fans. "Just crazy."

In spite of the mood on the dock, though, there was no forgetting the emotions of the the last few days. "It was so tedious," said Stig Westergaard. "When a decision goes bad like that, it hurts everyone onboard."

Despite that feeling, no one was baying for the blood of the team's navigator, Wouter Verbraak. "It looked like a great call, given the context," said Hanakamp.

The context was that their boat - which proved its heavy air downwind credentials by reaching the scoring gate via the Southern Ocean in fourth - was dead last and in light winds barely a week ago.

"We know we are not the fastest boat in the light airs so we were looking for a tactical advantage," explained watch captain Nick Bubb. "It looked like it would be all or nothing but we did not know it would be this much nothing."

Verbraak added: "There is always a lot of risk when you take a big split, but we had a big analysis of the Doldrums and felt confident at the time. The pattern just changed and there was nothing we could do."

Had the conditions not turned, things could have ended very differently, according to Westergaard.

"Our sail programme is designed for sailing like that and we took the option," he said. "Two days after making the turn it just went bad. We could have been eight or 10 miles off Ericsson 4 if it had worked so we figured why fight for last when we had a chance for a podium position."

Verbraak was disappointed with the result, but insisted his team was confident in their boat and would keep courage in their convictions. "We won't hold back on big tactical calls; sometimes things just go wrong.

"But we can be quite happy. We learnt a lot about our light wind performance and the boat had no breakages. We can just focus on getting ready for the next leg and if the conditions go right for us we can do well.

"We saw enough in that first week to know we can challenge anyone going downwind in heavy airs."

Thereafter they stepped off the dock and into the crowds. The noise was immense. "We have many reasons to be happy," added Zherebtsov. "The result could have been better, but the experience could not."