Volvo Ocean Race: Leg 2 Crew Changes

As the Volvo Ocean Race teams prepare for the 6125-mile second leg from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, three of the seven teams have announced changes to their crew line-up:

Team SCA
Briton Dee Caffari and Swiss Elodie Mettraux will step onboard Team SCA, switching places with US sailors Sally Barkow and Sara Hastreiter. “This is a long and tough race and it is important that we keep thinking forward to the coming legs, so by rotating the crew this allows us to bring on fresh bodies and minds for every leg,” comments Team SCA Coach, Joca Signorini. Team SCA operates a squad system and selects the crew from their team of 13 offshore sailors. But the crew that is not sailing is not able to take it easy and will undergo an intensive, structured fitness and nutrition program to bring their bodies back to optimum fitness after the first leg from Alicante.

Dongfeng Race Team
Chinese sailor Liu Xue (Black) will be the third Chinese crew member to sail onboard Dongfeng in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15. This pre-planned crew change, is part of the long term sporting mission behind Dongfeng Race Team, with the ambition to bring offshore sailing to China, Yang Jiru (Wolf), Chen Jinhao (Horace) and now Liu Xue (Black) are the first of many Chinese sailors to represent China in the years to come in professional ocean racing. On the effect of the crew change, Charles Caudrelier said “It’s maybe a compromise on performance to have a crew change just as Wolf was gaining in experience, but this is pre-planned, it’s part of our mission as a project to develop as many Chinese sailors as we can during the race.”

Mapre
Leg 1 didn’t go well for MAPFRE, finishing in last, and after a team debrief, the crew has taken some key decisions. Navigator Nico Lunven will be replaced by Jean-Luc Nélias, the man who helped mastermind Groupama’s win for skipper Franck Cammas’s during the 2011-12 edition. Jean-Luc has already been working with MAPFRE as a weather analyst. The team also announced that Michel Desjoyeaux, the twice Vendée Globe winner onboard for the first leg, will not be sailing any further stages but remains available to assist the team from onshore. His replacement is Brit Rob Greenhalgh.

Leg 2 starts at 1800 local time (GMT +2) on Wednesday, November 19, it will see the crews sail for over three weeks, in conditions that are expected to be very diverse and will culminate in a final battle through the light and fluky breeze of the Gulf of Oman. This leg will require seamanship, speed in all conditions and above all, strong navigational decisions.

Saturday November 15, will see the fleet line up for the second In-Port in this edition of the Race. The short course will mean a break from offshore mode, testing the crews’ skills in a short and fast inshore race course. Racing kicks off at 1400 local time (GMT+2).

Event Website

Excerpts from Event Media