Crew change for Vestas 11th Hour Racing

Alicante, Spain (October 21, 2017) – Due to a medical issue that has arisen on the Vestas 11th Hour Racing team in the last 24 hours, a crew change for Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race has occurred.

Phil Harmer, two time race winner, has had a back issue so he will not on board when the 1450nm leg gets underway tomorrow to Lisbon, Portugal. He has been replaced by five-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran, Damian Foxall.

Harmer’s absence leaves a void in the requirement to have two medics onboard. To be compliant with the safety regulations of the Volvo Ocean Race, Hannah Diamond, one of the team’s medically trained sailors, will compete in the first leg. The British sailor has been training with the team in the lead up to the start completing a transatlantic in May and all of Leg Zero.

As a result, Jena Mai Hansen, the bronze-medalist from Denmark, has had to step down from the first leg. The goal is to give Harmer the rest he needs and get both him and Hansen back on the boat for Leg 2 from Lisbon to Cape Town starting on November 5. While crew announcements were made to the public, this change was filed in time for the official submission of crew lists to Race Management.

“Injuries happen in sport, and we have a lot of redundancy on the team, and we are fortunate to have good backups,” said Charlie Enright, skipper of Vestas 11th Hour Racing. “We look forward to getting them back as soon as we can.”

Official Crew List for Leg 1:
Charlie Enright (Skipper)
Simon Fisher (Navigator)
Mark Towill
Nick Dana
Tom Johnson
Tony Mutter
Stacey Jackson
Damian Foxall
Hannah Diamond
James Blake (OBR)

Race details – Tracker – Scoreboard – Race route – Facebook – YouTube

The first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race will start on October 22 and extend 1450 nm from Alicante, Spain to Lisbon, Portugal via Porto Santo.

2017-18 Edition: Entered Teams – Skippers
• Team AkzoNobel (NED), Brad Jackson (NZL)
• Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA)
• MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP)
• Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
• Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS)
• Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR)
• Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED)

Background: Racing the one design Volvo Ocean 65, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race begins in Alicante, Spain on October 22 2017 with the final finish in The Hague, Netherlands on June 30 2018. In total, the 11-leg race will visit 12 cities in six continents: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg, and The Hague. A maximum of eight teams will compete.

Source: Vestas 11th Hour Racing