Offshore racing has always fascinated Anders Dahlsjö, and it drew him into the sport of sailing. As he was growing up, he ploughed through many books on the Whitbread Round the World Race.

“Last spring, I read that Ericsson was to have a Nordic crew, and that’s when I saw my chance,” he says. “It’s extremely difficult to gain a foothold with the international crews, but I realized that I may have an opportunity to take part.”

After twice participating in the Swedish America’s Cup syndicate Victory Challenge, Anders has gained plenty of international experience.

“I’m no expert in any one area onboard, but rather good at most things. I can trim the sails, steer and be foredeck hand. I also have good technical skills, good physique and strength.” His strength comes mainly from competing as an elite swimmer as a teenager. But swimming also almost stopped Anders from truly committing to yachting.

Anders began sailing at the age of five. His family sailed during vacations, and when Anders was about seven years old, his father built a boat for the family. He spent many weeks of vacation on the family’s homemade Dominant 105, and Anders soon also began sailing optimists and dinghies. But then, at the age of 16, he stopped yachting.

“I chose to focus on swimming because things were going quite well for me there, especially in 100m and 200m freestyle,” he says. “I participated in the Swedish swimming championship in a relay, among other things. But it was also tough doing nine training sessions per week, so I had to stop doing everything else.”

When Anders was 18, he started sailing the family’s boat all by himself. And his interest in sailing took off again. He mostly took part in competitions on the Swedish west coast. That was also when Anders and his friends began dreaming about getting a job on a boat and sailing across the Atlantic. But they soon realized that they already had a boat. They could just as well take the Dahlsjö family’s Dominant.

“We never got as far as the West Indies,” he says. “But we sailed to the Azores and the Canary Islands. It was fun and adventurous, and I got a taste for off-shore sailing.”

Back on the west coast, Anders joined the Swedish America’s Cup challenge in 2002 thanks to his friend and Olympic sailor Mats Johansson. They finished fifth among11 boats, which was a huge success. But when they finished in the same place in 2006, their joy turned to disappointment. “We had much higher expectations and goals the second time,” he says.

He says that it is too early to make predictions about the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009. First and foremost it is about establishing teamwork between all those onboard in the Nordic crew.

“We don’t at all have the experience that exists in Ericsson’s international crew,” Anders says. “And despite everything, experience accounts for a lot within sailing. We’ll have to try to compensate that with talent and good teamwork. And in spite of everything, we have quite a lot of time to gel onboard.”

The teamwork between the crew is something that Dahlsjö often comes back to.

“The best thing about sailing is when you’ve worked hard for a long time with people you like, and it results in success on the yacht-racing course. My best yachting memory is when we won Tjörn Runt, which had 900 boats at the starting line. We had to work extremely hard, and a gale was blowing. But we were a gang of friends who won, and we did it with Dad’s homemade construction. It was an incredibly wonderful feeling.”