Ericsson 4, now named L4 and owned by software company Trifork, was part of a two-boat campaign for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. Her skipper was Brazilian multi-Olympic medallist, Torben Grael, who had twice taken-part in the race before, once as crew onboard Knut Frostad’s Innovation Kvaerner in 1997-98 and again as skipper of Brazil 1 in 2005-06.
© Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race
Each winter, the boat has been refitted in Spain, under the management of skipper, Jens Dolmer. This year, in immaculate racing trim, she will be aiming for yet another win during the Legends Race, to add to her list of achievements.
Ericsson 4, a second-generation Volvo Open 70, from the board of Juan Kouyoumdjian, the winning designer from 2005, laid down her intentions early on in the Volvo Ocean Race, breaking the 24-hour record on the first leg from Alicante to Cape Town in 2008, sailing 596.6 nautical miles. It was an improvement of 50nm on ABN AMRO One and skipper Mike Sanderson’s record in the previous Volvo Ocean Race and it’s a 24-hour distance that has yet to be broken in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Ericsson 4 eventually won five out of 10 legs, covering the racecourse in a total time of 127 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes, 17 seconds. After the race, she was bought by Groupama Racing Team and used as a training boat ahead of the next Volvo Ocean Race in 2011-12, which was won by Groupama 4. She was acquired by software company Trifork in 2014.
Jørn Larsen, founder of Trifork says:
Ericsson 4, now L4, represents perfection and we have taken good care of the old lady. This year, we received a gift from Juan Kouyoumdjian in the form of a refit. It has been a pleasure to work with Juan and the original boatbuilders, to make L4 even better. At Trifork, we seek to improve the world with the latest technology and the L4 refit is a visual way of showing our mission. I hope a lot of our Trifork software pilots will have a chance to sail her during our rare north European visit this year.
In 2014 the boat took part in the Copa Del Rey. In the following year, she completed Giraglia and finished second over the line in the Middle Sea Race and the ARC. In 2017, she completed the Caribbean 600 and Les Voiles de St Barth.
