Stefan Myrälf has been sailing as far back as he can remember. Boats have always been an important part of his life – from his early years in Vadstena by Sweden’s second-largest lake, Vättern, to Hellerup outside the Danish capital, Copenhagen, where his family moved in the mid-1960s, to today when, at 48, he is about to undertake his first round-the-world ocean race.

“Like all young athletes, I had dreams,” he says. “But my dreams weren’t about reaching the Olympics or sailing special boats or in certain competitions. My dream was always to be the fastest, to win.”

There was always a lot of sport when Stefan was growing up. He tried soccer, floorball, tennis and other sports, but he stuck with sailing and ice hockey. “It was a good combination, with sailing in the summer and ice hockey in the winter. The two sports suit each other. Both on the water and on the ice, you need whole-body strength,” he says.

Ice hockey took Stefan as far as the top Danish league. But sailing has taken him even further. His successes extend from Finn Class dinghies to 60-foot trimarans. And it was over a couple of years in the Oops Cup sailing the big 60-foot trimarans that he got to know Swede Magnus “Mange” Olsson, whose record included seven Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Races. “One day last summer, Magnus called and asked: ‘Hi Stefan. Do you want to sail around the world?’ I understood almost immediately that he was serious, and even though I wanted to ask my family first, I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. I love offshore racing, and it doesn’t get any bigger than the Volvo Ocean Race,” he says.

“Sailing in the Nordic crew will be fantastic. Being able to speak your native language onboard is a big advantage. Even though everyone in the Nordic region speaks good English, you need to concentrate in order to understand a foreign language and maybe a bit of slang, especially when you need to take quick decisions. So it feels good to be able to forget about struggling with the language.”

Stefan’s dreams of winning are just as strong today. But it is by no means certain that he will be among the winners in the highly competitive Volvo Ocean Race fleet 2008-2009. The Nordic crew in the Ericsson Racing Team does not have the same experience and polish as the international outfit. “We’ll just have to make up for that with enthusiasm and team spirit,” Stefan says. A good placing in the Volvo Ocean Race may yet become the best sailing memory in Stefan’s life. But until then, it is Kiel Week 1984 that he holds dearest – and not just because of the sporting success. Stefan had been sailing in Finn Class, and things had not been going too well. One evening, he and girlfriend Trine, who had sailed Tornadoes with her father, the legendary Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm, were standing with their boats. “There was a fantastic full moon that night and Trine said to me that it was maybe a good opportunity to ask her to marry me. But before I had time to speak, Paul started laughing and said I first had to win the two races that were left. And I did, so all that was left to do was to get married,” Stefan says with a laugh.