Read ends Volvo series with victory

American Ken Read rounded off his final Volvo Ocean Race campaign with victory in the last scoring event of the 2011-12 edition, the Galway in-port race yesterday.

The win gave Read, at 51 the oldest sailor in the race, double cause for celebration with the win earning him a one-point edge in the in-port race series over the crew he beat into second, Camper.

“It tastes very sweet,” he said after yesterday’s runaway triumph.

“To race against the best sailors in the world and come out on top is all we can ask for.”

Read had told journalists during the course of the nine-month marathon event which began in Alicante, Spain in October that this would be his last challenge.

His Puma team were second in the overall race standings in 2008-09 but this time were third having been beaten in the decisive final leg of nine from Lorient, France to Galway by French challengers Groupama and Camper.

Franck Cammas’s Groupama were crowned overall champions last Tuesday.

The next Volvo Ocean Race will be held in 2014-15.

Cammas has yet to commit for that race but said that victory in this edition had been the highlight of a distinguished career both as a single-handed and team sailor.

“I think the secret was that we were outsiders at the beginning and we were forced to learn all the time,” he said yesterday.

“We had to learn to race against the best crews in the world and eventually it got easier. We made mistakes at the start but all the time we tried to get better, right until the finish in Galway.”

Final standings
1. Groupama (FRA) 253 points; 2. Camper (ESP/NZL) 231; 3. Puma (USA) 226; 4. Telefonica (ESP 213; 5. Abu Dhabi (UAE) 131; 6. Sanya (CHN) 51.