26 November 2017edition, but Turner introduced a big rule change to
encourage mixed teams.
“We saw last time with the one-design Volvo Ocean 65
fleet that the race is all about people and teams,” says
Turner. “It’s going to be about how people work together,
both in the good times or when challenged and under
pressure. And every team will be challenged. Things will
go wrong. There’s also a tremendous amount of diversity
within these crews, in age and gender. This is the first time
the best female sailors in the world are fully integrated
into the crews across the fleet, which will allow them to
make a meaningful contribution to teams’ success.”
There are various male/female permutations available,
and we see different teams experimenting with different
line-ups for the start of the race. Having won the race at
his third attempt, the reigning champion Ian Walker has
hung up his sea boots in favour of a desk job, as the new
racing director of the Royal Yachting Association.
However, the former Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper
was consulted about the gender rule and says that heT
Dee Caffari is
skippering a team
with a blend of
younger sailors,
and an equal mix
of men and women›
his will be the toughest Volvo Ocean Race
yet. In its 44-year history, never before has
the fleet been required to travel so far, a
whopping 45,000 nautical miles round the
world. The previous longest race was the
2011-12 edition, which raced just over 39,000 nautical
miles, while the original back in 1973 was not much more
than half the length, at 27,000 nautical miles. Not only
that, but the race runs for around a month less than recent
editions, so the pace will be relentless, with little time for
rest or recuperation during the compressed stopovers.
Over the past decade or so, the Volvo Ocean Race moved
away from its roots of a race around the bottom of the
world through the Southern Ocean. Instead it sought to
accommodate the commercial requirements of teams
entered in the race who wanted a home stopover. The
most problematic of these was Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing,
with a sponsor that influenced a route requiring the fleet
to sail up through the Indian Ocean to the Emirates via
pirate territory. The next leg through the Straits of
Malacca on the way to China was no fun either, fraught
with the dangers of the race boats bumping into unlit
fishing vessels in this notoriously treacherous stretch of
water. It was certainly a challenge, but it lacked the purity
of a big, long charge through the mighty waves of the
Southern Ocean.
When he took over the helm of the Volvo Ocean Race
from Knut Frostad last year, Mark Turner wasted no time
in putting his stamp on it. Helped in part by Abu Dhabi’s
decision not to take part this time (Ian Walker had
skippered the team to win the 2014-15 edition, so it would
have been hard to top that), Turner changed the route. He
billed this as a return to the traditions of the race, with
three times more Southern Ocean sailing than before.
As the man who helped establish Ellen MacArthur as a
global superstar who transcended her sport, Turner has
long been a champion of greater opportunities for
women. Team SCA was an extremely well-funded
all-female crew in the last edition, and was expected to be
given a second shot at the Volvo Ocean Race until
corporate scandals inside the Swedish company meant
SCA’s attention was diverted elsewhere. It looked as
though the women of SCA would not get a second chance
to capitalise on the experience gained from the 2014-15Jeremie Lecaudey / Volvo Ocean Race
volvo ocean race