Ericsson 4 skipper Grael celebrates in Galway

Ericsson 4 won leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race from Boston to Galway.

The Swedish team took seven days, 10 hours, 33 minutes and 51 seconds to sail across the North Atlantic.

The crew of Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazilian two-time Olympic gold medallist Torben Grael, snatched a second consecutive leg victory.

The win, combined with a fourth-placed finish for their nearest rival Telefonica Blue, moved Ericsson 4 a step closer to an overall race victory.

"It's nice to get first place. It's another big step towards our goal, so we're pretty happy about it," said Grael. "But it was hard."

Ericsson 4, the pre-race favourite, finished just over an hour ahead of American-owned yacht Puma Ocean Racing.

Chinese-Irish entry Green Dragon drew the loudest cheers when it came in third.

"They know how to put on a good show in Ireland," Ericsson 4 crew-member Jules Salter said. "And this is just brilliant."

The eight points for the leg win puts the Swedish yacht 14.5 points clear of Telefonica Blue, which finished fourth in Galway.

The Volvo Ocean Race, which began in Alicante, Spain in October, is to conclude in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in June after nine months negotiating 10 stages over 37,000 nautical miles.

The eighth stage will take the teams from Galway to Marstrand in Sweden and gets under way on 6 June, after an in-port race on 30 May.

Leg seven results:

1. Ericsson 4 8.0 points

2. Puma Ocean Racing 7.0

3. Green Dragon 6.0

4. Telefonica Blue 5.0

5. Delta Lloyd 4.0

6. Telefonica Black 3.0

7. Ericsson 3 2.0

Overall standings after seventh stage:

1. Ericsson 4 (Swe)/Torben Grael (Bra) 92.0 points

2. Telefonica Blue (Spa)/Bouwe Bekking (Ned) 77.5

3. Puma Ocean Racing (US)/Ken Read (US) 76.0

4. Ericsson 3 (Swe)/Magnus Olsson (Swe) 58.0

5. Green Dragon (Chi/Ire)/Ian Walker (GB) 52.0

6. Telefonica Black (Spa)/Fernando Echavarri (Spa) 33.0

7. Delta Lloyd (Ned)/Roberto Bermudez (Spa) 25.5

8. Team Russia (Rus)/Andreas Hanakamp (Aut) 10.5 (provisionally withdrawn from the race)

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