At 25, Martin Strömberg is the youngest crew member on the Ericsson Racing Team. But thanks to his parents’ interest in sailing, he has more or less been sailing as long as he has been alive. The first time he went out to sea on a small boat, Martin was just four days old.
Martin has always been early or young. He was just 15 when he left home in Stenungsund, Sweden, for the sailing high school in Lerum.

“It was a fun time,” he says. “We were out sailing after school three days a week. And every weekend when I was at home with my parents, we had races.”

Many of Martin’s school friends had ambitions within competitive sailing. Some of them dreamed of the Volvo Ocean Race, others wanted to do the America’s Cup and a third group strived to win Olympic gold.

“But I’ve never felt really at home in dinghies,” he says. “I’ve always felt a little too big, even though I might have also dreamed about winning an Olympic gold medal. But offshore racing is more my thing.

“At the same time, I’m not that certain that you have to choose. There are those who’ve been successful in many different boats, and I think you can aim for the Volvo Ocean Race, the America’s Cup and the Olympics. But you can’t do them all at the same time, and all my focus now is on the Ericsson Racing Team in the Volvo Ocean Race. That’s what I’ve been dreaming about.”

After Martin heard that Ericsson would be competing with two boats, he also heard a lot of rumors floating around.

“Nobody knew if there were to be two boats with international crews, or an all-female boat, or perhaps a youth boat or something else,” he says. “But then came the announcement about a Nordic crew and that’s when I knew I wanted to be involved.”

After three selection trials, the news that Martin had been waiting for so long came from Ericsson’s training camp in Lanzarote.

“I think they’ve been looking for personalities that suit each other onboard,” he says. “It seems as though everyone in the Nordic gang is quiet, calm and humble. And I think that suits me too.

“Because we sail on the boat in teams of four, you have to be versatile,” he says. “But my main task onboard is to be trimmer. And considering that I’m working as a sailmaker, it will be Anders Lewander and I who will be spending a lot of work on the sail.”