Cape Town diary: Dongfeng able support cast, and more

Osman Samiuddin brings the happenings from the sidelines after the in-port race from the South African city.

June 14, 2014. Dongfeng Race Team training in Lorient, France: Skipper Charles Caudrelier, Pascal Bidegorry (centre), Eric Peron. Photo: Yvan Zedda/Dongfeng Race Team

Support cast

Abu Dhabi’s Azzam won Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town, but several other achievements are recognised on each leg. For instance, the Dongfeng Race Team was a close second to Azzam, in part because the Chinese boat travelled the shortest distance (8,363.9 nautical miles) in the fleet and clocked up the best 24-hour run over the 20-plus day leg, covering 541nm on November 3.

Navigation rewards

This year’s race is increasingly seen as one the best navigator will win. So, one of the race sponsors has decided to recognize that by putting up US$1,000 (Dh3,670) for the winner of the B&G Navigators’ Prize for each leg and $5,000 for the overall winner at the end of the race next June. It is a peer prize, a blog asking each of the navigators whom they thought was the best navigator in the first leg and what their own big decision was. So far, opinion seems to be siding with Dongfeng’s Pascal Bidegorry. This is going to be a big, geeky subtext to the entire race.

Ambassador Walker

Ian Walker, the Azzam skipper, has likened his role to that of the chief executive of a medium-sized enterprise. In Cape Town, soon after winning the first leg, he became an ambassador for Laureus, an organisation that uses sport to push for social change. Walker is ideal for that kind of role and he is probably among the most-seen faces of the race during the Cape Town stopover.

It’s a family affair

Sailing is a family thing and there are familial connections through the race teams. The wife of Azzam’s navigator Simon Fisher is with another team in the race, for example. Leg 2 will see some sibling rivalry with the arrival of former Azzam crew member Rob Greenhalgh to Team Mapfre, as a replacement for Michel Desjoyeaux. Mapfre finished last in the first leg, overtaken at the end by the all-female crew Team SCA, who count among their crew navigator Libby Greenhalgh, younger sister to Rob. “I’m stoked to have him in the race against us,” she said. The pair have raced each other before in other forms of sailing. Rob’s addition could improve Mapfre’s fortunes, given his pedigree: he is a former VOR winner.

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