Yachting: Pirates win final leg of Volvo Ocean Race

New Zealander Mike Sanderson is thrown into the water as ABN Amro One celebrate winning the Volvo Ocean Race. Picture / Reuters.

GOTHENBURG - Pirates of the Caribbean has won the ninth and final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, finishing four minutes and 50 seconds ahead of ABN Amro Two.

ABN Amro One, skippered by New Zealander Mike Sanderson, had already clinched the race win by winning the seventh leg from New York to Portsmouth last month.

The overall winners were unable to sign off in style, however, after finishing the closing leg last of the six boats still in competition.

For most of the last third of the race the Pirates trailed ABN Amro Two, but the Dutch team fell into a wind hole in the last hours which allowed the Walt Disney-backed boat to take over the lead.

With American Paul Cayard at the helm, the Pirates crossed the finish line with their Black Pearl ship at the Alvsborg bridge in Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast to be greeted by hundreds of boats and thousands of cheering spectators.

It was the first leg won by the Pirates.

"For sure I wanted to impress people here, especially my mother-in-law," smiled skipper Cayard, whose wife Icka is Swedish and comes from Gothenburg.

"It was a difficult leg, and I feel a little sorry for ABN Amro (Two). They were sailing a great race."

The Pirates finished second overall thanks to their win. Brasil 1 still had an outside chance of beating them going into the race but had to settle for third place overall after finishing the leg in third.

"It really has been steady improvement since the start for us," said Cayard.

"Back in Cape Town (after the first leg), we were behind everyone and now we finish second. So I am really proud of the sailing team and the shore team about the success we've achieved today.

"We were also the last boat to enter the race, that's why the climb is so impressive."

Cayard became the first American skipper to win the race with EF Language back in 1998 when it was still called the Whitbread Round the World Race.

"It's completely different now from then," he said. "The boats are so much more advanced technologically these days. Working with Disney has been a real highlight."

ABN Amro Two, whose crew member Hans Horrevoets died on May 18 after being swept overboard, kept their fourth place overall by finishing second.

- REUTERS