November 2017 11inshore stadium racing in ports of call.
This plan drew together all the areas
of the sport in which Turner has been
involved, and which have wide appeal
and large scale audiences.
Grand plans shelved
It appears the Volvo Ocean Race
board’s plan to shelve the proposals it
had previously agreed is what’s behind
Turner’s resignation. The timing could
hardly be worse, just as the next race
gets underway, and it raises serious
questions about the future of the race as
the foremost ocean and round the world
sailing event.
So what exactly is behind this
about-turn? Money, say insiders. The
word on the dockside is that the race
organisation would not sign the
contract for the tooling for the new 60ft
design. “He couldn’t get the cheque.
They got nervous. Some of the deals for
this race haven’t gone across the table,”
says a source.
A new, eighth, VO65 was built this
COMMENT
L
osing Mark Turner is a blow to
the future credibility of the Volvo
Ocean Race. He was brought in to
shake the event up – and he did. His
vision cut through the bureaucracy of what is quite
a large organisation and sought to join up the dots
of sailing, creating an overlap between the VOR and
the Vendée Globe, between male and female sailing,
between crewed and solo racing, Olympic and
offshore events.
His plans even included Volvo Ocean Race
academies in some countries to help younger sailors
step up from an Olympic campaign. It acknowledged
that the VOR had been toppled from its place at the
apex of ocean sailing, and needed (like the Vendée)
closer insight into the human drama of the sailors
taking part.
So cohesive were Turner’s ideas that they
attracted a new cohort of elite sailors such as
America’s Cup winners Blair Tuke and Peter Burling,
and have played to the ideas Emirates Team New
Zealand are working on for the next America’s Cup.
After he joined, Mark Turner brought in talented
people and trusted lieutenants from his OC days,
including head of PR Lou Newlands, commercial
manager Susie Walker, race director Phil Lawrence,
and his wife, Anne-Cécile, who is the race’s
sustainability programme leader. Deciding to leave
will have been a huge decision.
The VOR looked like a perfect fit for Turner. New
investment could have taken the race quickly into
bold new territory, while also aligning it with other
active areas of sailing sponsorship. The board has
flunked it.
Elaine Buntingyear at Persico Marine in Italy in the
expectation that there would be a
larger fleet this time. But only seven
entries have joined, and some of those
are not on fully commercial terms. The
estimated cost of a fully funded VOR
campaign is €10-12m.
This has led to a shortfall in expected
revenues, the most likely reason why
the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) board are
halting a new project requiring millions
of Euros of upfront investment.
The VOR is jointly owned by Volvo
Group – which makes trucks, buses
and construction vehicles – and Volvo
Cars, now a subsidiary of the Chinese
multinational Geely Holding. Volvo,
once seen as a slightly staid brand, has
become one of the most innovative car
manufacturers. The company recently
announced that it plans to only sell fully
electric and hybrid cars from 2019 –
just the type of disruptive, sustainable
technology that fits well with the
Turner’s picture for the race.
What now for the race? Turner’s
resignation will have little impact on this
edition, which will benefit from many of
the changes he and his management
team have already implemented. The
race has been given a new lease of life by
the entry of so many youth and women
crew, and a revamp on the on board
reporter programme aimed at getting
more nitty-gritty stories off the boats
(see page 24). There is no suggestion
that the race will discontinue beyond
this, but the future suddenly looks much
less exciting.‘The estimated cost of a fully funded
VOR campaign is €10-12m’
Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean RaceThe Guillaume Verdier-designed foil-equipped
monohull proposed as the next Volvo design